International Finance Regulation The Quest for Financial Stability

International Finance Regulation

Since World War II, financial crises have been the result of macroeconomic instability until the fatidic day of September 15, 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The financial system had become the source of its own instability through a combination of greed, lousy underwriting, fake ratings, and regulatory negligence. From that date, governments tried to put together a new regulatory framework that would avoid using taxpayer money for bailout of banks. In an uncoordinated effort, they produced a series of vertical regulations that are disconnected from one another. That will not be sufficient to stop finance from being unstable, and the need for international and horizontal regulation is urgent.

Effective financial regulation inspires market confidence, stability, consumer protection, and a reduction in financial misconduct and crime. International finance expert Georges Ugeux explains that while individual nations have reformed domestic regulations, these combined measures are still insufficient to prevent future financial crises. International Finance Regulation: The Quest for Financial Stability demonstrates that global financial stability is managed in a fragmented and incoherent manner, and offers a model for strategic international regulation.

International Finance Regulation provides recommendations and suggestions from the perspective of a leading global authority with more than 40 years' experience in the financial arena. Ugeux offers insights into the lessons learned from the recent financial crises, and shows why the current financial laws, rules, and risks are often seemingly overbearing. He also includes information on the transformation of the United States marketplace and the creation of the Euro, and histories of Latin American and Asian economic crises. Ugeux points to some of the complexities and inconsistencies of recent regulations—Basel III, the Dodd Frank Act, the European Banking Union—and their limited ability to ensure financial stability.

He also addresses some of the controversies surrounding the Volcker Rule, too big to fail, shadow banking, credit default swaps, securitization, and hedge funds.

The book is filled with illustrative case studies from real-world financial disasters such as the implosion of Lehman Brothers, the breakdown of the Greek economy, the enormous "London Whale" trading, and Libor interest rate scandal. These studies and other examples demonstrate how the global economic framework developed, and the inability (and unwillingness) of the international financial and banking systems to protect our economy.

The proposals and recommendations outlined in International Finance Regulation offer the international financial community a new model for the transfor-mation of our global economy.