Financial regulation?qsrc=3044

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Financial regulations are a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government organization.

Aims of regulation

The specific aims of financial regulators are usually:

• To enforce applicable laws
• To prosecute cases of market misconduct, such as insider trading
• To license providers of financial services
• To protect clients, and investigate complaints
• To maintain confidence in the financial system

Authority by Country

See main article List of financial regulatory authorities by country

The following is a short listing of regulatory authorities in various jurisdictions, for a more complete listing, please see list of financial regulatory authorities by country.

• United States;
  • U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
  • Federal Reserve System ("Fed")
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
  • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)
  • National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
  • Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), USA
• Financial Services Authority (FSA), UK
• Financial Services Agency (FSA), Japan
• Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), Germany
• Autorité des marchés financiers (France) (AFM), France
• Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore
• Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Switzerland
• Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB), Italy
• People's Republic of China
  • China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)
  • China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC)
  • China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC)
• Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM), Brazil
• Canada
  • Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA)
  • Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI)

Unique jurisdictions

In most cases, financial regulatory authorities regulate all financial activities. But in some cases, there are specific authorities to regulate each sector of finance industry, mainly banking, securities, insurance and pensions markets, but in some cases also commodities, futures, forwards, etc. For example, in Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) supervises banks and insurers. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is responsible for enforcing financial services and corporations laws.

Sometimes more than one institution regulate and supervise banking market, normally because, apart from regulatory authorities, Central Banks also regulate banking industry. For example, in USA banking is regulated by a lot of regulators, such the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. The structure of financial regulation has changed significantly in the past two decades, as the legal and geographic boundaries between markets in banking, securities, and insurance have become increasingly "blurred" and globalized.

In addition, there are also associations of financial regulatory authorities. In the EU, there are the Committee Of European Securities Regulators (CESR), the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) and the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS), which are Level-3 committees of the European Union in the Lamfalussy process. And, at a world level, we have the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

See also

• Bank regulation
• Insurance law
• Regulation of commodity markets
• Securities Commission
• International Organization of Securities Commissions
• International Centre for Financial Regulation
• Finance

External links

• Securities Lawyer's Deskbook from the University of Cincinnati College of Law
• Securities Law Home Page
• The Compliance Exchange Jonathan Halsey's financial regulation research resource
• ICFR (The International Centre for Financial Regulation)
• Ana Carvajal, Jennifer Elliott: IMF Study Points to Gaps in Securities Market Regulation
• IOSCO: Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation (PDF-Datei 67 Seiten)
• The Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance The Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance
• The Institute for Financial Market Regulation The Institute for Financial Market Regulation