Governance of Global Financial Markets The Law, the Economics, the Politics

The recent financial crisis proved that pre-existing arrangements for the governance of global markets were flawed. With reform underway in the USA, the EU and elsewhere, Emilios Avgouleas explores some of the questions associated with building an effective governance system and analyses the evolution of existing structures. By critiquing the soft law structures dominating international financial regulation and examining the roles of financial innovation and the neo-liberal policies in the expansion of global financial markets, he offers a new epistemological reading of the causes of the global financial crisis. Requisite reforms leave serious gaps in cross-border supervision, in the resolution of global financial institutions and in the monitoring of risk originating in the shadow banking sector. To close these gaps and safeguard the stability of the international financial system, an evolutionary governance system is proposed that will also enhance the welfare role of global financial markets.

1. Introduction; Part I. Financial Markets and Financial Crises: 2. Financial markets and financial crises; 3. The causes of the global financial crisis; Part II. The Evolution of Global Governance Structures: 4. The evolution of global financial governance and development of international financial regulation; 5. The 'softness' of soft law and global financial governance; Part III. Regulatory Reform and a New Governance Model for Global Financial Markets: 6. Regulatory and supervisory reform: US, EU, Basel Committee; 7. Global reform of the 'too-big-to-fail-institution' and the new resolution regimes in the US and the EU; 8. An evolutionary model for global financial governance.

This multidisciplinary analysis of governance structures for international finance critiques the national approach to the regulation of global financial markets, provides a new reading of the causes of the global financial crisis, and proposes a new governance system to stabilise the international financial system and promote open global markets.

Emilios Avgouleas holds the chair in International Banking Law and Finance at the University of Edinburgh. He was previously Professor of International Financial Markets and Financial Law at the University of Manchester. He has published extensively in the wider field of international and European finance law and economics.