THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2015/2016

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Law : Law

Postgraduate Course: Regulation of international Finance: the Law, the Economics, the Politics (LAWS11285)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Law CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits40 ECTS Credits20
SummaryGlobal financial markets have gone through various stages of development since Bretton Woods. In the past two decades, liberalisation, technological advancement, and market innovation have elevated financial markets to a position akin to being the heartbeat of the global economy. However, since 2008 they seem to have fallen into a state of irremediable disrepair. Thus, while global finance was before 2008 either unregulated or its regulation was largely a matter of national regimes (with the exception of the EU), ever since the regulation of International finance has become the subject of extensive reform at the global, regional (EU), and national level. Most of the new regulations target 'too-big-to-fail' institutions and intend to bolster systemic stability. But regulatory reform has not stopped with banks it has been extended to regulation of hedge funds, credit rating agencies, OTC derivatives markets and a host of other interlinked areas.

This course will examine the workings of global finance and the institutional edifice supporting it, based on modern regulatory theory and practice, from an interdisciplinary perspective (law, economics, politics). It will offer in depth insights into the economic, regulatory, and political framework under which financial markets operate in the EU, the USA, and internationally.
Course description As such in the first semester the course touches on the role of global financial markets in the modern world and the interplay between the different economic and institutional actors within global markets. To this effect the course discusses in depth the causes of the Global Financial Crisis. Moreover, particular emphasis is given to the study of regulation theory and national regulatory structures as well as of the soft law bodies that regulate global finance such as the Financial Stability Board and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

The second part of the course will be an analytical examination of financial regulation and regulatory practice in the USA, the EU, and the UK. It discusses in depth the causes of the Eurozone Crisis and offers in-depth analysis of US, EU, and UK regulatory reforms in the field of systemic risk and bank supervision and investor protection. Requisite classes will examine in depth the European Banking Union and its institutions and the new EU regime for Crisis Management and Bank Recovery and Resolution, based on the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution directive 2014. In building the required knowledge background and research skills the course teachers strongly encourage students to study and research areas of regulatory reform with strong contemporary significance and present their views in class!
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  50
Course Start Full Year
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 400 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 40, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 352 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 2 essays (worth 40% and 60%)
Feedback
All students will be invited to present in class on a topic of their choice in the course of the semester. Before the presentation students submit on an individual basis a written summary of their presentation of no more than 800-1,000 words (or 4,000 words on a group basis) on which they are given one on one and written feedback.


The course organizer strongly recommends the formation from the beginning of term of mixed background study groups whose value in adding student understanding of the key concepts of this predominantly interdisciplinary course may not be underestimated.


This way, students learn how to overhaul their team-work and interview skills as well as how to work with team members from diverse study backgrounds in mixed law and finance teams and learn how to engage in interdisciplinary research, dialogue, and team-work.


No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate and/or work with: A broad knowledge of: (a) the mechanics of global financial markets in general and the welfare goals these could serve (b) the challenges financial markets raise with respect to systemic stability and investor protection (c) the regulatory techniques used to address those challenges Knowledge that is embedded in the main theories of regulation and concepts and principles of International financial regulation. An awareness of the evolving/changing nature of global finance and understanding of the main rationales and strands of regulatory reforms. An understanding of the mechanics and regulation of global finance with reference to the standards issues by International (soft law) regulators and the reformed EU, US, and UK regulatory regimes.
  2. Use their acquired knowledge and research skills to critically discuss, analyse and evaluate: (1) the mechanics of international finance (at a general level) and (2) the institutional edifice, the different rules and standards and the competing policy objectives and public interest considerations underlying: (a) International standards for the regulation of banks and of capital markets (b) the causes of and the regulatory challenges created by the global financial crisis and proposals for reform of International financial regulation (c) the EU regulation of investment services (d) the EU regulatory framework for the supervision of systemic risk and of EU banks (e) the UK¿s institutional structure for the regulation of financial services
  3. Upon completion of the course students will be able to present and evaluate arguments on the application of financial regulation or with respect to regulatory policy questions in the field of International finance and use a range of approaches to consider policy questions relating to regulation of International finance and regulatory reform.
  4. Through seminar attendance, problem-based enquiry and group discussion, students will develop a range of analytical and communication skills to convey complex ideas underpinning the mechanics of International finance and its regulation in a well-structured and coherent form.
  5. Through independent work, research and analysis as evidenced by the set assessment methods students will be able to demonstrate initiative and the ability to work autonomously and take responsibility for their own work as well as give presentations to answer questions that resemble the provision of legal advice on the application of financial regulation or consideration of financial policy.
Reading List

Emilios Avgouleas, Governance of Global Financial Markets ¿ The Law, the Economics, the Politics (Cambridge University Press 2012).

S. Valdez & Philip Molyneux, An Introduction to Global Financial Markets (Palgrave Macmillan, 6th ed., 2010).

S. Gleeson, International Regulation of Banking ¿ Capital and Risk Requirements (Oxford University Press, 2nd edn, 2012).

A. Turner, ¿The Turner Review: a regulatory response to the global banking crisis¿ FSA 2009, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/turner_review.pdf

M. Brunnermeier, C. Goodhart et al., ¿Fundamental Principles of Financial Regulation¿, ICMB & CEPR, Geneva Reports on the World Economy 11, June 2009, available at http://graduateinstitute.ch/files/live/sites/iheid/files/sites/international_economics/shared/international_economics/prof_websites/wyplosz/Geneva%20Reports/Geneva%2011.pdf

Emilios Avgouleas, ¿Rationales and Designs to Implement an Institutional Big Bang in the Governance of Global Finance¿ (2013) 36 Seattle University Law Review 321 Berle IV: The Future of Financial And Securities Markets The Fourth Annual Symposium of The Adolf A. Berle, Jr. Center on Corporations, Law & Society , available at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2158133

Emilios Avgouleas, ¿Regulating Financial Innovation: A Multifaceted Challenge to Financial Stability, Consumer Protection, and Growth¿, Oxford Handbook of Financial Regulation (Oxford University Press, 2015), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2458335

Emilios Avgouleas, ¿Large Systemic Banks and Fractional Reserve Banking, Intractable Dilemmas in Search of Effective Solutions¿, Chapter in Arner, Avgouleas, Buckley (eds), Reconceptualizing Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2015), available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2562521

Emilios Avgouleas, ¿Financial Regulation, Behavioural Finance, and the Global Credit Crisis: In Search of a New Regulatory Model¿, available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1132665

Emilios Avgouleas, Jay Cullen, ¿Excessive Leverage and Bankers¿ Pay: Governance and Financial Stability Costs of a Symbiotic Relationship
Columbia Journal of European Law, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2015, available at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2412869

Emilios Avgouleas, Charles Goodhart, Critical Reflections on Bank Bail-ins¿, (2015) Journal of Financial Regulation 3-27, available at
http://jfr.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/02/03/jfr.fju009.full-text.pdf

Emilios Avgouleas, Douglas Arner, ¿The Eurozone Debt Crisis and the European Banking Union: A Cautionary Tale of Failure and Reform¿
University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2013/037

Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 1. On completion of the course the students should be able to show an in depth understanding of financial markets, of the banking industry, shadow banking, derivatives markets and attendant risks as well and the objectives and content of financial stability regulation and supervision, especially with respect to bank regulation, supervision and resolution.

2. On completion of the course the students should be able to analyse a host of problems in global markets and the banking industry and the tools formal regulation and regulatory theory and practice employ to address financial risk, especially the risk of financial instability and the regulatory framework utilized to mitigate requisite problems in the EU, USA, UK and at the global level

3. On completion of the course the students should be able to advise on the nature of risks arising in global markets with particular reference to the banking industry and derivatives markets and the principles, rules, and standards financial regulation and regulatory practice employ to address them, with reference to applicable legislation and regulatory rulebooks

4. On completion of the course the students should be able to provide expert advice on the application of applicable legislation and regulatory rulebooks in the EU, UK, USA, and attendant regulatory practice.


Keywordsbanks,deriviatives markets,financial stability,systemic ris,shadow banking,credit rating
Contacts
Course organiserProf Emilios Avgouleas
Tel: (0131 6)50 2028
Email: eavgoule@exseed.ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Karin Bolton
Tel: (0131 6)50 2022
Email: Karin.Bolton@ed.ac.uk
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