Banking Regulation and World Trade Law

Banking Regulation and World Trade Law concerns the legal aspects of the interaction between banking regulation and international trade in financial services. The author studies the internal banking market of the European Union, the liberalisation of financial services trade in the World Trade Organization, the accords of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the European Central Bank.

The book focuses on the balancing between banking regulation and international trade law. It discusses discrimination and proportionality in national banking regulation, the allocation of prudential regulation and supervision between home and host country, and international financial law-making. The author questions decentralised/nation-based banking regulation and supervision as a foundation for a sustainable liberalisation of international trade in financial services.

The book considers various reforms of the international financial architecture, such as the incorporation of the Basel processes and accords into the WTO system, and the setting up of new international institutions by building on the Basel Committees or the IMF structures. The role of central banking in designing the international financial architecture is also explored: the book reviews the ECB's competence over foreign exchange policy and its function as lender of last resort, and treats price stability, banking soundness and representation as critical concepts. The analysis also reveals that the concept of 'prudential', despite its extensive use in banking regulation, has not been defined with adequate precision.

In seeking to delineate the interface between international economic law and banking regulation, Dr Panourgias builds on the rich European scholarship on institutional financial issues and the US interdisciplinary approach to world trade law. He also entertains the notion of international financial law as a distinct field.

The book will be of particular interest to those concerned with financial law and international banking.

Autorentext

Lazaros E Panourgias LLB (Athens), LLM (Georgetown), MA (Fletcher), Ph D (King's College, London) is an associate at Herbert Smith LLP (Financial Institutions Group) in London. A member of the Bar in Athens and New York, he has previously been affiliated with the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and worked as legal adviser at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and at the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems.

Inhalt

I. Introduction

1. The concept of 'prudential'
   1.1. The concept of 'prudential' in the GATS and the EU
   1.2. The concept of 'prudential' in the literature
   1.3. The problem
2. Relevant Policy rationales
   2.1. Banking regulation - rationale
   2.2. The conflict between banking regulation and trade liberalization
   II. Trade Liberalization and Banking Regulation: The GATS and The EU
3. Liberalization of cross-border banking
   1.1. Foreign direct investment (FDI) and International cooperation
   1.2. FDI in banking
4. Trade liberalization and Banking regulation
   2.1. Regional liberalization - European Union (EU)
   2.2. Multilateral liberalization - General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)
5. GATS: Trade and Financial stability
   3.1. Branch
   3.2. Subsidiary
   3.3. Non-financial entity
6. Trade and Financial stability - review of the EU and GATS institutional foundations: Lessons for the GATS
   4.1. Trade and financial stability output
   4.2. Trade and Financial stability - review of the EU and GATS institutional foundations
   4.3. Trade and financial stability - regional integration
7. Conclusions
   III. The Case for Prudential Supervision at the International Level and Related Reforms
8. GATS Reform
   1.1. Definition of the prudential carve-out - Development of the trade-off devices
   1.2. Incorporation of the Basel standards
9. Prudential institution building at the international level
   2.1. Decentralization model
   2.2. Medium-term institutional arrangements
   2.3. Prudential institution building at the international level - Long-term institutional arrangements
10. Conclusions
    IV. EC Internal Banking Market and Prudential Supervision
11. Banking supervision: the decentralization model
    1.1. Decentralization
    1.2. Cooperation
    1.3. European Central Bank (ECB)
    1.4. Reform
12. Monetary policy and Bank supervision
    2.1. Price stability
    2.2. Default prudential supervision of central banks
    2.3. Monetary policy and bank supervision
    2.4. ECB and prudential supervision
    2.5. ECB and Foreign exchange policy
13. Lender of Last Resort
    3.1. Accountability
14. The EC internal banking market and lessons for regional integration
15. Conclusions
    V. Conclusions - Toward International Institution Buiilding
16. GATS
    1.1. Balancing of trade and banking regulation
    1.2. Trade and financial stability output
    1.3. Reliance on adjudication
    1.4. GATS vis-à-vis EU: macro-aspects
    1.5. Reform
17. Prudential institution building at the international level
    2.1. Alternatives
    2.2. Informal vis-à-vis Formal norm making
    2.3. Forum
18. EC Internal banking market
    3.1. The case for bank supervision at the Community level
    3.2. The EU macro- design
    3.3. Prudential supervision at the community level and accountability
19. EC Internal banking market and prudential institution building at the international level