Monetary Law Blog

Conference on The International Law of Financial Markets

April 22 and 23, 2010 the European Society of International Law will organize a conference entitled "The International Law of Financial Markets: Governance, Stability and Security."

The conference will be held in Granada, Spain and will include the following topics:

1. 'The New Governance of the International Monetary and Financial System' addressing the role of the G20, the International Monetary Fund, and the Financial Stability Board;
2. 'The International Law Regulation of Financial Services' addressing the place of GATS, the EU's monetary Union and single financial area, and the new system of financial supervision in the EU, and
3. 'International Finance and Security' addressing money laundering and terrorism financing, and bankruptcy and insolvency.

Follow this link for the the full program.

ECJBlog relaunched

ECJBlog.com with news and analysis related to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) has been relaunched. On this blog, Dr. Allard Knook, attorney at law with CMS Derks Star Busmann in The Netherlands, shares his views on recent ECJ cases.

Recommendations For Cross-border Bank Resolution

The Basel Committee's Cross-border Bank Resolution Group has developed a set of recommendations that resulted from its stocktaking of legal and policy frameworks for cross-border crises resolutions and its follow-up work to identify the lessons learned from the global financial crisis which began in 2007.

The Basel Committee's recommendations relate to the following areas:

• Recommendation 1: Effective national resolution powers
• Recommendation 2: Frameworks for a coordinated resolution of financial groups
• Recommendation 3: Convergence of national resolution measures
• Recommendation 4: Cross-border effects of national resolution measures
• Recommendation 5: Reduction of complexity and interconnectedness of group structures and operations
• Recommendation 6: Planning in advance for orderly resolution
• Recommendation 7: Cross-border cooperation and information sharing
• Recommendation 8: Strengthening risk mitigation mechanisms
• Recommendation 9: Transfer of contractual relationships
• Recommendation 10: Exit strategies and market discipline

Proposal for a European Resolution Authority for the banking system

An IMF working paper on Crisis Management and Resolution for a European Banking System has just been published.

 

This morning, Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn (the IMF's Managing Director) gave a speech on the same topic.

 

Abstract: The paper proposes an integrated crisis management and resolution framework for the EU's single banking market. It comprises a European Resolution Authority (ERA), armed with the mandate and the tools to deal cost-effectively with failing systemic cross-border banks, and is designed to address many fundamental operational and incentive problems. It also seeks to reduce moral hazard and better protect countries against the risk of twin fiscal-financial crises by detaching banks from government budgets. The ERA would be most effective if it were twinned or combined with a European Deposit Insurance and Resolution Fund.

 

 

Principles for enhancing corporate governance

Building on the 2006 corporate guidance authored by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and drawing on the lessons learned during the current global financial crisis, the Committee's consultative document, Principles for enhancing corporate governance, sets out best practices for banking organisations.

The key areas where the principles have been strengthened include: (1) the role of the board; (2) the qualifications and composition of the board; (3) the importance of an independent risk management function, including a chief risk officer or equivalent; (4) the importance of monitoring risks on an ongoing firm-wide and individual entity basis, (5) the board's oversight of the compensation systems; and (6) the board and senior management's understanding of the bank's operational structure and risks.

The principles also emphasise the importance of supervisors regularly evaluating the bank's corporate governance policies and practices as well as its implementation of the Committee's principles.

The EBRD seeks an insolvency lawyer for its London office

The EBRD is an international financial institution that supports projects in 29 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Investing primarily in private sector clients whose needs cannot be fully met by the market, the Bank promotes entrepreneurship and fosters transition towards open and democratic market economies.

Follow this link for the job description and requirements.

50th--or 98th--anniversary of the Reserve Bank of Australia

Although the RBA is celebrating it's 50th anniversary, it's original predecessor  was established in 1912; like many other central banks, as a commercial bank. The speech gives also a brief description of the RBA's peculiar governance structure.

Address by Mr Glenn Stevens, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, to the Reserve Bank of Australia's 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner, Sydney, 8 February 2010.

The BIS seeks a Legal Counsel for its headquarters in Basel

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution that promotes central bank cooperation and provides banking services exclusively to central banks. Based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices for Asia and the Pacific in Hong Kong SAR and for the Americas in Mexico City, the BIS has staff from some 50 countries.

Follow this link for the job description and requirements.

Language of Money / Die Sprache des Geldes

The Musuem for Communication (Museum für Kommunikation) in Frankfurt am Main / Germany is having an euro exhibition on the language of money. Click here for pictures.

 

East African Monetary Union

Opening remarks by Prof Njuguna Ndung'u, Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya, during the East African Legislative Assembly Workshop on the East African Monetary Union, Nairobi, 4 March 2010.