National Financial Regulators Research Articles

Issues of assessing the FinTech impact on the financial sector's structure

Subject. This article examines the areas of penetration of FinTech and the impact of the expansion of FinTech and BigTech companies on the structure of the financial sector. Objectives. The article aims to analyze the processes of the emergence of the FinTech phenomenon and its growing penetration into all spheres of finance, identify the consequences of these processes for the structure of the financial sector, as well as formulate the principles for the formation of a balanced structure of the financial sector in the context of its ongoing digitalization. Methods. For the study, I used the systems approach, comparative intermarket analysis, impact analysis of the technological component of economic development at the macro level. Results. The article reveals the main forms and manifestations of the impact of digitalization on the structure of the financial sector and the main activities and types of services of FinTech companies. The article also formulates the principles for the formation of a balanced competitive structure of the financial sector. Relevance. The results of the study can be used by the Bank of Russia and other national financial market regulators to improve approaches to building a modern competitive balanced financial structure.

Improvement of financial reporting of organisations in the conditions of digital economy development

The purpose of the study is to investigate the current trends in the development of financial reporting of entities in the context of digitalisation of the economy both at the domestic and global level. The prospects of using XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) as the main digital format for presenting business reporting were analysed.Methodology. In the work on this article were applied such scientific methods as analysis, collection and processing of primary data, statistical observation and comparison, comparative methods.Originality / value of the study - The study is of value and originality in the context of formation and presentation of financial statements in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The author's approach to this process is unique and has the potential to improve the efficiency and transparency of financial reporting in the country.Results of the study - The results of the study provide valuable information that can be used by various financial market stakeholders, namely national financial regulators in making decisions to develop and improve policies and regulations; to help investors make informed investment decisions; international financial market participants, forecasting currency fluctuations and making strategic decisions; professional associations.

The Existence of Village Credit Institutions (LPD) in an Effort to Maintain Local Wisdom and Financial Globalization

Objectives: The objective of this study is to explore the integration of Village Credit Institutions (LPD) within the Indonesian financial system, considering their significance as embodiments of local wisdom and community identity in Bali.
 
 Methods: This research employs a qualitative approach, drawing upon legal analysis and comparative examination of national and local regulations pertinent to Village Credit Institutions. Data collection involves reviewing relevant legislation such as Law Number 4 of 2023 and Law Number 1 of 2013, alongside Bali Provincial Regulation Number 3 of 2017. Additionally, this study incorporates insights from community members and legal experts familiar with the operation of LPDs.
 
 Results: The analysis reveals a complex interplay between national financial regulations and local customary practices, particularly concerning the governance and operation of Village Credit Institutions. LPDs serve as vital components of Bali's economic fabric, embodying local wisdom and community cohesion. However, discrepancies may exist between national laws and customary practices, necessitating careful consideration for the harmonization of legal frameworks to sustain the integrity of LPDs within the broader financial system.
 
 Conclusion: In conclusion, the study underscores the importance of aligning national legislation with local customs to preserve the role of Village Credit Institutions as guardians of local identity and economic stability. To achieve this, policymakers must prioritize the incorporation of diverse local wisdoms into the regulatory framework, fostering synergy between customary practices and formal legal structures. By upholding the integrity of LPDs within the national financial system, Indonesia can honor its cultural heritage while promoting inclusive economic development at the grassroots level.

FINANCIAL RISKS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY: CURRENT SITUATION AND IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The study of the current state of the renewable energy sources (RES) sector as an important area for reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere makes it possible to identify a circle of subjects – participants in the RES electricity market. The financial risks they take largely determine the present and future of this innovative market in terms of investment, financing, lending, insurance, regulation, and incentives. The renewable energy market is of particular interest to investors, financial institutions, the state setting the rules of the game and stimulating its development. The financial risks of market participants as the probability of monetary losses and losses are manifested at all stages of the development and implementation of renewable energy projects, from the development of technologies to public procurement of generated electricity. The analysis made it possible to identify the features of financing renewable energy projects, in particular, high initial financial costs, long payback periods for projects requiring long-term lending, sensitivity to regulatory and legal changes on the part of the state in terms of purchase prices for electricity, subsidies and incentive benefits for its producers and financial institutions – participants. Based on specific examples of renewable energy projects, the risks of banks, insurers in Vietnam and a number of developing countries in South Asia that provide green loans and green insurance products to companies implementing renewable energy projects, as well as households producing electricity from solar systems, are considered. Recommendations were formulated for national financial regulators, banking institutions, insurance companies to ensure acceptable financial conditions for renewable energy projects and adequately assess their own financial risks.

National and International Financial Market Regulation and Supervision Systems: Challenges and Solutions

The purpose of this original study is to critically analyse the emergence and development of the national models of financial regulation, international standards and codes, and regional and national financial regulation and supervision (for the cases of the UK, USA, Sweden, the EU, and Finland). The research raises both academic and regulatory concerns. The relevance and purpose of this research arise from a need for an academic analysis of the economic nature and classification of financial market regulation systems. They represent a theoretical justification for changes in the policies and supervisory practices of national and international regulatory authorities in response to innovations in financial technologies and instruments, digital products, and risks. Secondly, it will stimulate more systematic work on regulatory databases, registration, and reporting procedures in various economies in different financial markets. The author identifies five main systems of national financial regulatory markets: the multi-tiered, multi-agency US system, the twin peaks model (UK), and the mega-regulatory model (Sweden). There is a thorough review of the international standards and institutions that work for the stability of financial systems. The analysis of the regional and national systems of financial regulation and supervision is based on the examples of the EU and Finnish institutions. National macro- and micro-economic regulation and supervision have been examined, with a focus on the US Federal Reserve and the US Treasury. An important result of the study is the systematisation of the directions of the development of national and international regulatory institutions (since the 1980s). First, the minimum capital and credit risk requirements for banks (the 1980s) were complemented in the 21st century by buffer reserves, liquidity, and leverage standards. Second, regulation focuses on ensuring the sustainability of the national economy. The regulatory focus is on ensuring the sustainability of national and global financial systems. Third, there is an increase in the number of supervised institutions. Fourth, there is a division of the functions between central banks (macro-economic regulation) and one or two mega-regulators (micro-economic regulation and supervision). Fifth, there is a division of labour between the international financial institutions (BIS, IMF, and WB) and national regulators. Sixth, the focus is on protecting consumers and investors and countering money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Seventh, there is an understanding based on a common approach by central banks to new financial technologies and cybersecurity.

Crypto risks and mitigation opportunities in Russia

The position of national financial regulators in relation to cryptocurrencies is largely determined by the presence of risks of their use. Historically, the development of the crypto market has proved that fears seem to be well founded. Both internationally and nationally, there are mainly four types of risks associated with the use of cryptocurrencies: risks of violation of consumer rights; risks of money laundering and terrorist financing; environmental risks; risks to financial stability. Despite the risks being objective in nature and recognised by all financial regulators in the world, when forming a national legal regulation, each country should assess these risks based on its ability to manage them. The study showed that the risks of public costs in the circulation and use of cryptocurrencies are not destructive for the Russian financial market.Russia needs to adhere more strictly to a risk-based approach to regulating the crypto asset market. To manage risks, it is necessary to legalise the crypto asset market in Russia and create an appropriate market infrastructure. Only the legalisation of the turnover of crypto assets will ensure proper control over it, and, consequently, minimise the existing risks.

MSFI kao determinanta kvaliteta finansijskih izveštaja u Republici Srbiji

The development processes which shaped the today's world market and international financial institutions have caused the need for financial statements standardization and harmonization at the global level. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) plays a crucial role in this process in the Republic of Serbia. By adopting the IFRS IASB project, IAS included, as the national standards, the Republic of Serbia started to apply a new system of financial reporting defined by legal and professional accounting regulations. The main purpose of this research is to indicate the cause-and-effect relationship between financial regulations and financial reporting formation according to the standards and harmonization requirements at the global level. With the aforementioned as the starting point, the main aim of the research in this paper is to indicate whether the financial statements based on the IASB project in the Republic of Serbia may be compared to the financial statements in other countries. The research results show that the immediate and exclusive IFRS implementation in the Republic of Serbia has become the limitation factor for the informational value of financial statements. Also, research results show that in addition to the IAS/IFRS, American accounting principles and the EU Directive 34 represent the key segments of professional regulations contributing to a better accounting harmonization, as well as a higher quality of financial reporting. Most countries with their own national financial regulations, harmonize their accounting rules with the above mentioned regulations when it comes to the most important issues.

International cooperation on financial market regulation

At the latest the global financial crisis has raised the awareness of the need for a globally coordinated financial market regulation. Even though the necessity to cooperate is widely acknowledged, cooperation is often limited in practice. This article characterizes the formation of self-enforcing international financial regulation agreements. Our analysis allows to evaluate the desirability and feasibility of cooperative solutions and explains the challenges associated with the process of cooperation. We model the cooperation of national financial regulators in a game-theoretical framework that considers financial stability to be an impure public good. Joint national supervisory effort is supposed to increase aggregate welfare in terms of a more stable financial system both on a global and on a local level by simultaneously generating incentives to free-ride. Our analysis in general indicates the difficulty of reaching a fully cooperative solution. In our basic version of the model we show that partial cooperation of two or three countries is stable and improves the welfare of all countries relative to the non-cooperative Nash equilibrium. Further analyses highlight the role of additional club benefits. When signatory countries of a coalition gain benefits over and above the joint welfare maximization, stable coalitions of any size become feasible.

Цифровые валюты центральных банков: мировой опыт

Received 28.07.2020. The article examines issues related to the introduction of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) for retail payments and wholesale settlements. The study defines and classifies central bank digital currencies, researches the main models of CBDC systems. The article also analyzes the features of various national projects for issuing Central bank digital currencies. The paper uses methods of economic-statistical and functional-structural analysis. The study concludes that CBDC are a new form of central bank money. Digital currencies can be issued in various issuing systems for the purpose of retail payments or wholesale settlements. Among the models of CBDC systems for retail payments (R-CBDC) the direct system model is the most attractive for its simplicity. This model eliminates the dependence of the Central bank on any financial and payment intermediaries. Models of synthetic and hybrid R-CBDC systems are characterized by reliability and speed in processing multiple transactions which makes them the most promising for implementation. Among the models of CBDC systems for wholesale payments (W-CBDC) the model of the system with a universal digital currency (U-W-CBDC) may be the most suitable for eliminating the main disadvantages of modern cross-border payment systems. However, a large number of technological and financial changes as well as the high operating costs of the U-W-CBDC can make such systems difficult to implement for non-developed financial market infrastructure countries. National financial regulators have different motivations for issuing digital currencies. The main advantages of digital currencies for retail payments may consist in providing users with highly liquid, low-risk, universally available means of payment. The main advantages of wholesale digital currencies are that they offer faster, safer, cheaper cross-border payments. The most advanced projects for issuing R-CBDC can be considered DCEP (People’s Bank of China) E-krona (Central Bank of Sweden). The most successful pilot projects for issuing W-CBDC are the projects Jasper (Central Bank of Canada) and Ubin (Monetary Authority of Singapore), which were able to achieve interoperability in conducting cross-border payments. Currently most CBDC are retail based on the use of distributed ledger technology and implemented in the form of DLT-tokens. Countries that develop digital currency systems can be divided into three groups. The first group is countries where the introduction of CBDC can be designed to support the national demand for central bank money (Sweden, Norway, Singapore, etc.). The second group – countries for which the adoption of digital currencies can afford to keep the place of national currencies in international settlements (USA and EU) or expanding the use of national currencies at the international level (China). The third group represents countries for which the introduction of digital currencies may be associated with the control of national monetary circulation and de-dollarization of the financial system (Uruguay, South Africa, Cambodia, etc.).

ФОРМУВАННЯ МОДЕЛІ РЕГУЛЮВАННЯ ФІНАНСОВОГО СЕКТОРУ НАЦІОНАЛЬНОЇ ЕКОНОМІКИ

An analysis of the applied forms of cross-sectoral approach to the organization of supervision and regulation of the financial sector of different types of national economies, including the Ukrainian one, is presented. Particular attention is paid to the role of the central bank in improving the coordination of regulators of the national financial market. It is determined that effective financial supervision, in the modern sense, should combine the performance of three key functions: macroprudential supervision, microprudential supervision and business integrity supervision. With technological development, the integration of financial sector segments and the emergence of complex financial products, the segmental core of regulation has been lost. One of the main current problems is to identify the risks posed by integrated financial instruments, financial corporations take them on, and also track the ways in which they spread. Institutional and sectoral models of financial supervision are analyzed. A common feature of institutional and functional approaches is the growing need to improve the coordination of national financial regulators and comprehensively increase its efficiency. The expediency of creating a macro-regulator in the conditions of modern economic systems is substantiated. The possibility of consolidated supervision is revealed, which eliminates interdepartmental conflict of interests, better control of transactions and cash flows. Peculiarities of macroregulators functioning in Great Britain, Australia, and the Netherlands have been studied. Developing a unified approach can increase the speed of response to identified threats and its adequacy, as well as reduce regulatory arbitrage by supervised organizations. The mega-regulator is able to provide due attention to the control of the integrity of business by financial market participants, protection of interests and awareness of market participants and consumers of financial services in comparison with the functional and institutional models. The priority system of national regulation of the financial sector for the Ukrainian economy is determined.

Стан та перспективи використання похідних фінансових інструментів на криптовалюти

The emergence and rapid development of the cryptocurrency market necessitated its organization and legal regulation. Today in Ukraine, businesses are allowed to record cryptocurrency as a financial asset (financial instrument / intangible asset), so cryptocurrency can be used by businesses and individuals as an investment. In developed countries, where the legal framework for the operation of cryptocurrencies has been created, new derivative financial instruments are emerging: Bitcoin futures and options on Bitcoin futures. The purpose of the article is to study the features of derivative financial instruments for cryptocurrencies and prospects for their use in Ukraine. The authors analyzed the peculiarities of the functioning of Bitcoin derivatives on Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). It has been established that both Bitcoin futures and options on Bitcoin futures are settlement contracts without the actual delivery of the underlying asset, and their value is formed depending on the spot prices for bitcoin. According to the results of the study, it can be argued that derivatives based on cryptocurrencies (bitcoin) are used mainly for speculative purposes, are highly volatile and high risk, require significant investment to participate in trading (compared to derivatives on traditional financial instruments) and do not involve any transactions with direct cryptocurrencies. Domestic legislation does not explicitly prohibit investments in cryptocurrencies and financial instruments derived from them, but does not determine the legal status of cryptocurrencies. National financial market regulators do not provide any guidance on valuation, accounting and cryptocurrency transactions to businesses, but only warn of the high risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.

SMEs Intention towards Use and Adoption of Digital Financial Services


 
 
 
 The purpose of this study is to analyses the SMEs owners and managers intention towards use and adoption of digital financial services in South Punjab, Pakistsan. SMEs are considered key contributors to economic activity, as a key-source of employment, growth, and invention. SMEs perform significant role in the system of national financial regulation all over the world, Jobs creation, and contributing to modernization in the financial regulation are significant exertions to achieve ecological sustainability and more growth in access to finance. Access to finance in emerging countries is one of core issue in development of SME sector as well as obstacle in economic growth. Microfinance institutions are considered a good manifesto to enhance access to inclusive finance as well as stress-free access to finance and financial literacy for SMEs to support economic growth but in Pakistan, to obtain these finances not easy for SMEs sectors. SMEs are unfortunately still struggling due to lack of inclusive finance and financial literacy. Recently financial institution introduced digital financial services at micro level that provide access to financial services to each and every citizen in the country without any restriction. To accomplish the purpose of the research, the data was acquired from the SMEs owners and mangers with a sample of 232 chosen randomly of South Punjab, Pakistan. In this research study, merged two best theories; the theory of planned behavior and technology acceptance model was used to describe their behavior. Multiple statistical tests run to check the normality by using Shapiro-Wilk test, reliability and multicollinearity of the data to test the assumptions of regression and correlation. Finally, the results of this intended study revealed that there is a moderate significant but positive relationship between the SMEs owners and managers intention towards use and adoption of digital financial services. The Government of Pakistan should create finance related awareness program, training, technical institution and make a rules and regulation. Further this study suggests to researchers that focus on internal and as well as external factors of SMEs in Pakistan.
 
 
 

Ten Years of the Global Reform of Financial Regulation: What is ahead?

Global financial crisis of 2008–2009 demonstrated the need for reforms in the system of financial regulation. An institutional mechanism was created under the auspices of the G20 with the purpose to implement a global reform. In the article results of the postcrisis global financial reform are analysed in contingent with review of the evolution of institutional mechanism, which specifics often determined success or its absence in particular directions of the reform. The author selects and reviews three main periods of development of the global financial regulation’s institutional mechanism. In the initial period – the first years after the crisis works were progressing in two directions simultaneously: a) co-ordination of activities of national financial regulatory bodies in coping with the crisis processes and neutralization of its consequences; b) development and reconciliation of major global standards of financial regulation. We can consider that period as successful because crisis processes were overcame in relatively short time, trade and currency wars were also avoided and at the same time international regulatory standards were widely agreed.The second period according to the author’s classification (approx. 2012–2015) – transmission to the implementation of agreed international standards at the national and supranational (EC) levels. That time a range of difficulties and contradictions between leading countries revealed. First of all these problems related to the spheres where the regulations of transnational activities of financial institutions had to be agreed. As the author shows exactly in that time a problem of the so-called asymmetrical sovereignty in the financial policy aggravated.The third period is continuing in the present time. During this period, from the one side, the global financial regulation expands its coverage according to emergence of new challenges, but from the other side the interest to the reform is being loosing and the trend to increase of the independence of the national financial regulators is expanding. So the threat to fragmentation of the international financial markets and revision of already agreed regulatory standards became not illusive.Special attention in the article was paid to analysis of the problem of regulating the shadow banking or non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), which are till now largely outside of the regulatory mandate of the governance bodies. Rapid growth of transactions by the latter, according to the author’s opinion, is a threat to the global financial stability especially taking into account such factors as its close interconnectedness with traditional financial institutions (banks), exposure to the bank-like risks, the wide implementation of financial innovations for making new unregulated products.Investigating new challenges beyond the perimeter of the post-crisis reform the author came to the conclusion that implementation of financial technologies as well as the necessity to take into account ecological and social factors require serious transformation of the global financial system as well as it’s regulation. Taking into account the global nature of new challenges the need for international co-operation of financial regulatory bodies will be continued.

Development of the Long-Term Investment Market: Modern Transformations in the National Mechanism for Economic Growth Financing

The economic growth and its sustainability depend on volumes and dynamics of long-term investments that require careful forecast of the future. Therefore, the paper analyzes the development of long-term investment financing in Russia in 2016–2018. The relevance of the research stems from the need to seek new and develop existing sources of funding the economic growth in Russia. The subject of the research is a set of measures implemented in the framework of the national financial market development plan, compared with recommendations of global level institutional investors related to long-term investment financing. The purpose of the research was to formulate proposals on how to introduce global management recommendations into the national financial regulation practice and offer a set of actions to national governments to support long-term investment by institutional investors. Based on the research findings, it is concluded that the priority in the Russian financial policy should be given to decisions towards overcoming national development problems rather than to decisions aimed at harmonization of relations in the investment sphere and creation of favorable conditions for foreign institutional investors. It has been stated that the main criterion for making a financial decision in the Russian Federation should be development level achieved, challenges facing society as well as available resources and opportunities, including the tolerance (or intolerance) level of the international environment. This position is currently demonstrated by the national financial regulator.

Historical cost vs fair value in forest accounting: the case of Lithuania

The accounting methods based on two concepts-accounting at historical cost and accounting at fair value-are responsible for the provision of information about the enterprise's assets in the financial statements. Taking into consideration the specifics of the national financial accounting regulation, the forests managed by the forestry enterprises can also be measured by using either of these two accounting methods. However, in terms of accounting, both of them pose certain problems or ambiguity. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of forest accounting methods based on fair value and historical cost and the practice of their use in Lithuanian forestry enterprises. The study examines scholarly literature and deploys the theoretical methods of comparative analysis, critical evaluation, systematisation, generalisation. The empirical research involved document content analysis, questionnaire survey. The article deals with the issues of the use of accounting methods for forestry accounting: traditional cost-based accounting methods do not reflect the biological forest transformation, hinders identifying the forest development costs and the end of their capitalisation, the method of a systematic derecognition. On the other hand, the essential complication of the use of the fair value method is that the forest largely lacks an active market with quoted prices. Thus, its fair value is determined on the basis of rather subjective assumptions by means of diverse valuation methods, resulting in unreliable and unverifiable information. The results of the research carried out into the forestry accounting policy observed in the Lithuania's private forestry enterprises revealed that forest accounting by cost is exclusively carried out by all the enterprises under investigation. Nevertheless, the method itself was interpreted quite differently. The article presents the modified forestry accounting methods by cost, which allow reducing the identified shortcomings.

РЕФОРМА ГЛОБАЛЬНЫХ ФИНАНСОВ В КОНТЕКСТЕ УСТОЙЧИВОГО РАЗВИТИЯ

Adjusting the global financial system in order to support sustainable development of the world economy becomes an imperative of the XXI century. The article analyses the main drivers and obstacles to this process as well as action programs aimed at achieving this goal. Three main groups of actors are considered: national governments and financial regulators, international organizations and private financial institutions. The rapid growth of the number of informal international alliances and initiatives supporting sustainable banking, investments and insurance is really impressive. The author points out that the main direction of transformation of the global financial system is “to go green”. Within this general trend the principle of “double dividend” can be applied and the economic gains can be achieved together with ecological ones. Achievement of social goals can be ensured by further development of the financial inclusion and improvement of the financial management and standards. Financial innovations, including digital finance, increase of SMEA financing, development of green finance clusters with diversified green instruments inside the international financial centers are considered among the main accelerators of such transformation. A very important feature of the recent years is constantly increasing participation of the rapidly growing developing countries, especially China, in the green finance initiatives. This country is not just seeking to solve its national ecological and social problems. Basically, it is interested in creating and occupying its own niche in the changing global financial system with the purpose to make it more connected with the real economy, more equal and fair. The author concludes that strong governance is critical for ensuring the real progress in green and sustainable finance. The Roadmap, prepared by UNEP/World Bank in 2017, contains not only the list of necessary next steps but their timing. This document may be helpful for all countries, including Russia, and for their cooperation, aiming to align financial system to sustainable development for future prosperity.

Evolution of micro-prudential regulators and macro-prudential regulators in the global financial regulatory system

The global financial integration (GFI) has augmented the international financial flow movement without restructuring global financial regulatory system (GFRS). The goal of the global financial regulatory system is to maintain global level stability. In GFRS, the financial stability board (FSB) is responsible for the macro-prudential regulation and the micro-prudential regulation is monitored by international standard setting bodies (SSBs), international financial institutions (IMF and World Bank) and national financial regulators. These micro-prudential regulation and macro-prudential regulation are non-binding in the legal sense. However, these regulations examine as a standard of efficiency. The member nations are strictly implementing the standards because it provides stringent firewall during the unwanted financial turmoil. It also reflects the strength of the member nation. So, the evolution of micro-prudential regulation and macro-prudential regulation is a continuous process; it has to be evolved and developed as per the dynamic changes in the global financial system.

Coordination Incentives in Cross-Border Macroprudential Regulation

When national financial sector regulators need to mutually harmonize macroprudential policy decisions, imperfections of cross-border information exchange may undermine fair cooperation. Attempts to overcome the effects of informational distortions by delegating macroprudential policy to a supranational body are also likely to entail welfare losses. We study the tradeoff between macroprudential policy autonomy and centralization by means of a signaling game of imperfect information played by two national regulators. The model concentrates on informational frictions in an environment with otherwise fully aligned preferences. We show that even in the absence of evident conflicting goals, the non-transferable nature of some regulatory information creates misreporting incentives. Reporting accuracy is a part of a broader problem of strategic advantage-seeking by the national regulators. Therefore, cross-border coordination mechanisms, centralized or not, that limit strategic behavior are preferable to those allowing its full deployment. The results are applicable to systemic risk management by international organizations, including the relevant EU institutions.

Managing Regulatory Arbitrage: A Conflict of Laws Approach

Many of the core challenges facing national financial regulators stem from a classical puzzle of international law: how to manage conduct that is beyond national jurisdiction, or conduct that is potentially subject to multiple regulatory authorities, in a context in which markets are transnational and market participants arbitrage the differences between regulatory regimes to their own advantage. The dominant approach of the G20 to this challenge has been a model borrowed from public international law and institutions. After reviewing some of the limitations of this approach, the paper considers how tools in the private international lawyer's toolkit that might offer a very different, yet potentially more effective approach.

The Impact of National Financial Regulation on Macroeconomic and Fiscal Performance after the 2007 Financial Shock – Econometric Analyses Based on Cross-Country Data

Abstract Using cross-country data, this paper estimates the impact of the 2007 financial shock on countries’ macroeconomic developments conditional on national financial regulations before the crisis. For this purpose, the “financial reform index” developed by Abiad et al. (A New Database of Financial Reforms, 2008a) is used. The econometric analyses indicate that countries with more deregulated financial markets experienced deeper recessions, stronger employment losses, and larger government budget deficits. Against the background of the ongoing global crisis and the results of other studies, the usefulness of liberalized financial markets for macroeconomic stability and economic development should be rigorously reconsidered.