The international financial community blamed the Asian crisis of 1997–1998 on deep failures of domestic financial governance. To avoid similar crises in the future, this community adopted and promoted a set of international "best practice" standards of financial governance. The G7 asked specialized public and private sector bodies to set international standards, and tasked the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank with their global dissemination. Non-Western countries were thereby encouraged to emulate Western practices in banking and securities supervision, corporate governance, financial disclosure, and policy transparency. In Governing Finance, Andrew Walter explains why Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, and Thailand—key targets and test cases of this international standards project—were placed under intense pressure to transform their domestic financial governance. Walter finds that the depth of the economic crisis, and more enduring aspects of Asian capitalism, such as family ownership of firms, made substantive compliance with international standards very costly for the private sector and politically difficult for governments to achieve. In spite of international compliance pressure, the result was varying degrees of cosmetic or "mock" compliance. In a book containing lessons for any agency or country attempting to implement lasting change in financial governance, Walter emphasizes the limits of global regulatory convergence in the absence of support from domestic politicians, institutions, and firms.

The definitive guide to capital markets regulatory compliance Governance, Compliance, and Supervision in the Capital Markets demystifies the regulatory environment, providing a practical, flexible roadmap for compliance. Banks and financial services firms are under heavy regulatory scrutiny, and must implement comprehensive controls to comply with new rules that are changing the way they conduct business. This book provides a way forward, with clear, actionable guidance that strengthens governance at all levels, and balances supervisory and compliance requirements with the need to do business. From regulatory schemes to individual roles and responsibilities, this invaluable guide details the most pressing issues in today's financial services organizations, and provides expert advice. The ancillary website provides additional tools and guidance, including checklists, required reading, and sample exercises that help strengthen understanding and ease real-world implementation. Providing both a broad overview of governance, compliance, and supervision, as well as detailed guidance on application, this book presents a solid framework for firms seeking a practical approach to meeting the new requirements. Understand the importance of governance and "Tone at the Top" Distinguish the roles of compliance and supervision within a financial services organization Delve into the regulatory scheme applicable to broker dealers, banks, and investment advisors Examine the risks and consequences of inadequate supervision at the organizational or individual level The capital markets regulatory environment is complex and ever-evolving, yet compliance is mandatory. A solid understanding of regulatory structure is critical, but must also be accompanied by a practical strategy for effective implementation. Governance, Compliance, and Supervision in the Capital Markets provides both, enabling today's banks and financial services firms to get back on track and get back to business.

How does international financial integration affect development in newly industrializing countries? Sylvia Maxfield offers a challenging interpretation of the Mexican political economy in light of this complex question. In an increasingly internationalized world, she argues, capital-controlling economic policies can have benefits that, especially for the newly industrializing Latin American countries addressed here, outweigh the efficiency costs of government intervention.

Despite a clear distinction in law between equity and debt, the results of such a categorization can be misleading. The growth of financial innovation in recent decades necessitates the allocation of control and cash-flow rights in a way that diverges from the classic understanding. Some of the financial instruments issued by companies, so-called hybrid instruments, fall into a grey area between debt and equity, forcing regulators to look beyond the legal form of an instrument to its practical substance. This innovative study, by emphasizing the agency relations and the property law claims embedded in the use of such unconventional instruments, analyses and discusses the governance regulation of hybrids in a way that is primarily functional, departing from more common approaches that focus on tax advantages and internal corporate control. The author assesses the role of hybrid instruments in the modern company, unveiling the costs and benefits of issuing these securities, recognizing and categorizing the different problem fields in which hybrids play an important role, and identifying legal and contracting solutions to governance and finance problems. The full-scale analysis compares the U.K. law dealing with hybrid instruments with the corresponding law of the most relevant U.S. jurisdictions in relation to company law. The following issues, among many others, are raised: decisions under uncertainty when the risks of opportunism of the parties is very high; contract incompleteness and ex post conflicts; protection of convertible bondholders in mergers and acquisitions and in assets disposal; use of convertible bonds to reorganise and restructure a firm; timing of the conversion and the issuer’s call option; majority-minority conflict in venture capital financing; duty of loyalty; fiduciary duties to preference shareholders; and financial contract design for controlling the board’s power in exit events. Throughout, the analysis includes discussion, comparison, and evaluation of statutory provisions, existing legal standards, and strategies for protection. It is unlikely that a more thorough or informative account exists of the complex regulatory problems created by hybrid financial instruments and of the different ways in which regulatory regimes have responded to the problems they raise. Because business parties in these jurisdictions have a lot of scope and a strong incentive to contract for their rights, this book will also be of uncommon practical value to corporate counsel and financial regulators as well as to interested academics.

This book helps to understand in which ways local governing elites are important for the success or failure of national democratic development. Although we know a great deal about the general importance of civil society and social capital for the development of sustainable democracy, we still know little about what specific local governing qualities or political capital that interact with democratic development. The collected data covers time series of surveys from between 15 to 30 political and administrative leaders in over a hundred middle-sized European and Eurasian cities. The study takes us across the 1980s and 1990s, going from cities in Sweden and the Netherlands - through the Baltic cities - to the cities of Belarus and Russia. The findings show the importance of local political capital based on commitments to core democratic values, informal governance networks, and the significance of initially connecting the community to global, non-economic relationships.