Sky Blog
Financial regulatory institutions are at the center of intense debates over how to supervise financial firms and markets. They are also the focus of an important and growing body of literature that is mainly concerned with the question, “Who…
Are regulatory interventions in financial markets delayed reactions to market failures, or can regulators pre-empt corporate misbehavior? Given the high economic and social costs associated with corporate scandals, and the substantial resources countries dedicate to preventing such misconduct, the answer …
How can regulators best respond to financial crises? In a forthcoming article in the Duke Law Journal, I show how a law-and-economics framework can guide regulators’ responses. There are two kinds of remedies for failing to comply with a law: …
The UK Government triggered on March 29, 2017, Article 50 TEU. As a result, the UK is likely to have exited the EU by March 2019.
In a speech delivered on January 17, Prime Minister (“PM”) May explained …
Each year, hot on the heels of the federal government’s September 30 fiscal year end, the Securities and Exchange Commission proclaims that it has once again filed a record (or near-record) number of enforcement actions. But the main event for …
In our recent paper, we discuss the economic case for regulating shadow banking and ask three questions. First, what is shadow banking? Second, why should it be regulated? And third, what’s an efficient way to regulate it? We focus on …
Over the past few years, interest in corporate social responsibility (“CSR”)[1] has increased significantly. The spotlight on CSR has led companies to expand and strengthen their CSR efforts. Many companies in turn have published sustainability reports, posted materials on …
2017 has started with a bang on the data protection front. The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which is intended to harmonise data protection legislation across the EU, was adopted in April last year and is due to …
In 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a Concept Release on Regulation S-K as part of its comprehensive review of the effectiveness of federal disclosure rules. The release included for the first time a request for comment on …
The so-called “short-swing profit rule” under Securities Exchange Act Section 16(b) generally prohibits officers and directors as well as 10 percent shareholders of a U.S. public company from profiting from any purchase or sale (or sale and purchase) of the …
Crowdfunding is an exciting development that uses the power of the internet to allow entrepreneurs and startups to efficiently raise financing from a large number of people who each contribute a small amount of money. It breaks with the past …
In his statement announcing the appointment of Jay Clayton to run the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), President Donald Trump said that “we need to undo many regulations which have stifled investment in American businesses, and restore oversight of the …
Mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) of bank holding companies (“BHCs”) and banks are subject to lengthy and sometimes unpredictable regulatory scrutiny and application processing between signing and closing. Bank M&A applications are subject to numerous regulatory risks, including preexisting conditions that …
President Trump made many statements during the campaign regarding actions he plans to take to reverse Obama administration sanctions policies.[1] These included revisiting the agreement to ease sanctions on Iran, rolling back the sanctions program against Russia, and reversing …
Swaps transactions, virtually unregulated before the 2008 financial crisis, are regulated in the U.S. under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Act. Title VII empowers the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), for most swaps, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, for …
On February 3, 2017, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC or Commission) released the findings of its “Merger Remedy Study” (the FTC Study) which examined the effectiveness of Commission-required remedies in transactions from 2006 to 2012.[1] The FTC Study—its …
State securities laws—generally referred to as “blue sky laws”— contain both registration provisions and antifraud provisions. Registration provisions require that a company offering its securities to investors in a particular state register its securities with the state or meet the …
Less than two weeks into the new congressional session, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 239 to 182 the Commodity End-User Relief Act1 (the Bill or House Bill), marking the first step by the new …
On January 19, 2017, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) Division of Enforcement (the “Division”) issued two Enforcement Advisories setting forth the factors that the Division may consider in assessing cooperation by companies and …
On January 13, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) published new final and temporary regulations (the “New Regulations”) and issued a notice of proposed rulemaking by cross-reference to the temporary regulations that address …