Transnational Capital Market Regulation and the Role of the Stock Exchange

Abstract

This chapter explores the tension between the competing goals - preserving the autonomy of individual nation states to regulate issuers and capital markets in a manner that reflects national values and national interests while attempting to bring uniformity to the standards that govern corporations with a global investor base. It consider various approaches taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to re-balance its investor protection mandate against the desire of US investors to access foreign securities and foreign exchanges. The chapter states an observation that the globalisation of capital-markets regulation will compel a greater allocation of authority and responsibility from national regulatory authorities to transnational self-regulatory authorities such as stock exchanges. The development of transnational exchanges could nevertheless ease the transition from the hegemony of US securities law towards convergence in international standards for global issuers. Keywords:international standards; securities and exchange commission (SEC); stock exchanges; transnational capital market regulation; US securities law