Financial stability is one of the key tenets of a central bank’s functions. Since the financial crisis of 2007-2009, an area of hot debate is the extent to which the central bank should be involved with prudential regulation. This book examines the macro and micro-prudential regulatory frameworks and systems of the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, Canada and Germany. Drawing on the regulator frameworks of these regions, this book examines the central banks’ roles of crisis management, resolution and prudential regulation. Alison Lui compares the institutional structure of the new ‘twin-peaks’ model in the UK to the Australian model, and the multi-regulatory US model and the single regulatory Canadian model. The book also discusses the extent the central bank in these countries, as well as the ECB, are involved with financial stability, and argues that the institutional architecture and geographical closeness of the Bank of England and Financial Policy Committee give rise to the fear that the UK central bank may become another single super-regulator, which may provide the Bank of England with too much power. As a multi-regional, comparative study on the importance and effectiveness of prudential regulation, this book will be of great use and interest to students and researchers in finance and bank law, economics and banking.

The Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2010 exposed the existence of significant imperfections in the financial regulatory framework that encouraged excessive risk-taking and increased system vulnerabilities. The resulting high cost of the crisis in terms of lost aggregate income and wealth, and increased unemployment has reinforced the need to improve financial stability within and across countries via changes in traditional microprudential regulation, as well as the introduction of new macroprudential regulations. Amongst the questions raised are:

We consider the optimality of various institutional arrangements for agencies that conduct macro-prudential regulation and monetary policy. When a central bank is in charge of price and financial stability, a new time inconsistency problem may arise. Ex-ante, the central bank chooses the socially optimal level of inflation. Ex-post, however, the central bank chooses inflation above the social optimum to reduce the real value of private debt. This inefficient outcome arises when macro-prudential policies cannot be adjusted as frequently as monetary. Importantly, this result arises even when the central bank is politically independent. We then consider the role of political pressures in the spirit of Barro and Gordon (1983). We show that if either the macro-prudential regulator or the central bank (or both) are not politically independent, separation of price and financial stability objectives does not deliver the social optimum.

Since banking systems play a crucial role in maintaining the overall health of the economy, the adverse effects of poorly supervised systems may be quite severe. Without some form of vigilant external oversight, banking systems could fall prey to excessive risk taking, moral hazard, and corruption. Prudential supervision provides that oversight, using government regulation and monitoring to ensure the soundness of the banking system and, by extension, the economy at large. The contributors to this thoughtful volume examine the current state of prudential supervision, focusing on fundamental issues and key pragmatic concerns. Why is prudential supervision so important? What kinds of excess must it guard against? What particular forms does it take? Which of these are the most effective deterrents against mismanagement and system overload in today's rapidly shifting financial climate? The contributors foresee a continued movement beyond simple regulatory rules in banking and toward a more active evaluation and supervision of a bank's risk management practices.

Systemic Risk: History, Measurement and Regulation presents an overview of this emerging form of risk from a global perspective. Systemic risks endanger entire financial systems, not just individual financial institutions. In this volume, the authors review how systemic risk has evolved over the last 40 years across continents to come to the forefront of regulatory attention. They then discuss transmissions channels, provide a review of systemic risk measures, and describe new regulations that have been introduced, as well as the theory and practice of financial stability committees that have been set up internationally. Overall, the book provides a practical guide to understand, identify, assess and control systemic risk.While the financial research on systemic risk has strongly increased since the events of 2008, this book is a first in providing a detailed yet concise overview of the topic, covering the history of systemic risk, its measurement, and its regulation. The authors provide both academic and practitioner-oriented insights, and draw on their different regions of expertise to provide a global perspective on systemic risk.

The financial crises of the past have proven that prudent and effective systems of bank regulation are crucial in preserving and maintaining a resilient financial system. Banks play a significant role in the economic environment and their stability and soundness is imperative to prevent financial crises. Changes in the market and developments in banking practices have increased the risk exposures of banks. Through the contagion effect, the failure of one bank may have far-reaching consequences for other banks and the financial system as a whole. Essentially, enhanced and effective banking regulation is pertinent to safeguard the financial system. As a regulatory response to these financial crises, capital and liquidity requirements of banks have been developed and adopted internationally, over the years, with the purpose to preserve the integrity of the global financial system. These frameworks of international banking regulation have been adopted through the Basel Accords, which are premised on strengthening the resilience of banks to withstand financial pressures. The 2008 Global Financial Crisis prompted the need to revise the previous regulatory instruments, resulting in the introduction of the latest international regulatory framework known as Basel Ill. In South Africa, these international standards of banking regulation have been transposed into the relevant legislative instruments regulating banks in a proactive effort to enhance and preserve the stability of banks. This dissertation discusses the aspect of bank regulation and how prudential regulation, as a regulatory tool, contributes to the promotion of financial stability. The study critically discusses the capital and liquidity requirements of banks as set out in the Basel Accords and analyses their ability, as mechanisms of prudential regulation, to preserve a resilient financial system. The dissertation further considers how these international standards of banking regulation have been adopted into South African law. This is done by considering the legislative and regulatory instruments regulating banks and the role of the South African Reserve Bank in facilitating compliance by banks.

This paper reviews empirical and theoretical work on the links between banks and their governments (the bank-sovereign nexus). How significant is this nexus? What do we know about it? To what extent is it a source of concern? What is the role of policy intervention? The paper concludes with a review of recent policy proposals.

This book deals with the challenges of macro financial linkages in the emerging markets.

This book brings outstanding expertise and provides insightful perspectives from nineteen authors with diverse backgrounds, including officials from international organizations, national regulators, and commercial banking, as well as academics in law, economics, political economy, and finance. The authors not only shed light on the causes of the financial turmoil, but also present thoughtful proposals that contribute to the future policy debate, and discuss opportunities that financial services can offer in funding activities which raise standards of living through initiatives in microfinance, renewable energy, and food distribution. The contributions to this volume tackle several of the thorniest issues of financial regulation in a post-crisis environment, such as: the mechanics of contagion within the financial system and the role of liquidity; moral hazard when large financial institutions are no longer subject to the disciplinary effects of bankruptcy; bank capital requirements; management compensation; design of bank resolution schemes; a function-centric versus institution-centric regulatory approach; subsidization and compatibility of stimulus packages with EU rules on state aid; trade finance and the role of the GATS prudential carve-out; and the role of financial services in promoting human rights or combating climate change.