International Trends in the Regulation of the Financial Services Sector

Abstract

This paper discusses the regulatory role of certain international organizations in the financial services sector. The regulatory initiatives of some organizations such as the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have been widely accepted without controversy. However, some of the initiatives of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have been criticized as impinging on national legal systems and accepted notions of national sovereignty. The paper discusses these issues in the context of constructions of legitimacy in the regulation of financial markets.

Keywords: international organisations, regulation, financial markets, legitimact

JEL Classification: G15, G18, G28, K42