Sky Blog
Most financing agreements define “Events of Default” as being triggered not only by serious defaults, such as a borrower’s failure to repay its debt, but also by relatively minor or technical “secondary” defaults not involving debt repayment. Typical examples of …
Although we use money every day, few of us really understand it. Most define it by its most obvious manifestation – government-issued paper certificates or coins that specify units of currency, such as dollars or euros. But that superficial definition …
Commercial law, as codified by the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), recognizes certain important commercial realities as a basis to override property law. In a new article, I examine that recognition in connection with the UCC’s allocation of the risk of …
In a new article, I attempt to build a systematic framework for regulating FinTech-driven innovations. In doing so, I clarify and simplify the confusing terminology that makes FinTech appear more complicated than it is.
“FinTech” refers to the use of …
In a new article, I observe that an accurate understanding of intersecting bodies of law can sometimes turn on the scale of observation. In particular, I examine how the intersection of commercial and bankruptcy law creates uncertainty whether a transfer …
Recent innovations in financial technology, or “FinTech,” are enabling the fractionalization of shares of stock, bonds, and other investment securities into units (“fractionalized securities”) that are small enough for virtually any investor to afford. In a new article, we show …
In a forthcoming article, I observe that commercial law has uncertain boundaries, challenging the traditional view that commercial law is a separate and distinct body of law. Various provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) may be overinclusive, conflicting …
Bankruptcy-remote structuring – structuring an entity to protect it from internal or external factors that might prevent it from paying its debts as they come due or make it the subject of a bankruptcy case – is crucial to a …
Sitting as courts of equity, bankruptcy judges have embraced an exceptionalist role whereby they exercise widespread discretion in deciding cases. The doctrine of equitable subordination epitomizes bankruptcy exceptionalism and its potential for market distortion.
The doctrine originated as a remedial …
In a new article, I examine the development and regulation of digital currencies, which are monetary currencies that are evidenced electronically. Large “wholesale” payments among businesses and financial institutions already occur electronically, and bitcoin has been with us for …
In a new paper, I examine the legal issues surrounding a “retail” central bank digital currency (“CBDC”), one that is used by consumers on a day-to-day basis as an alternative to cash. Most discussions about CBDC focus on its purported …
Since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, scholars, regulators, and policymakers have engaged in extensive studies to try to control excessive risk-taking by systemically important financial firms. In a recent article, available here, I argue that those studies do not fully …
The shrinking middle class and the widening gap between the rich and the poor threaten social and financial stability. The noted economist Hernando De Soto has explained how the lack of credit increases wealth inequality. Largely due to poverty, 70 …
There is an increasing worldwide focus on trying to end the problem of “too big to fail” (“TBTF”). Regulators are concerned that systemically important financial firms might engage in excessive risk-taking because they would profit from a success and be …
When should changes in markets for financial securities drive changes in law? In my forthcoming essay, available here, I argue that a normative framework for making that examination would increase transparency and legitimacy. It would also help counter the tendency …
There are few types of debt as internationally issued and traded as the debt securities issued in securitisation (in the United States, spelled securitization) transactions. European investors commonly invest in securities issued in U.S. securitisation transactions, and vice versa.
It …
The following post is based on an article by Professor Steven Schwarcz of Duke Law School entitled Intrinsic Imbalance: The Impact of Income Disparity on Financial Regulation, which documents and examines the consequences of the extraordinary two-to-one income disparity …
“Ring-fencing” is often touted as a potential regulatory solution to problems in banking, finance, public utilities, and insurance. However, both the precise meaning of ring-fencing, as well as the nature of the problems that ring-fencing regulation purports to solve, are …
The article, The Custom-to-Failure Cycle, which I wrote with my research assistant Lucy Chang (Duke Law School class of 2012), examines how reliance on heuristic-based customs can lead to financial failures. In areas of complexity, people often rely on …