Investment Banking: Immediate Challenges and Future Directions

Abstract:     
This article discusses the organizational nature of the integrated (or full-service) investment bank, the incidence of conflicts of interest in the financial services industry and the role and effectiveness of information barriers such as Chinese walls as an arrangement for managing conflicts. The paper also describes the growing importance to investment banks of proprietary trading and principal investing, the conflicts of interest that they can produce, and the recent responses of financial regulators to these developments.

The paper was presented at a discussion forum involving senior investment bankers, lawyers and scholars in August 2006, organized against the backdrop of litigation recently brought by Australia's financial regulator against a major investment bank for alleged conflicts of interest and insider trading.

Keywords: Investment bank, conflicts of interest, proprietary trading, principal investing, private equity, Chinese walls, managing conflicts, avoiding conflicts, financial regulators

JEL Classifications: G24, K22, K10

Accepted Paper Series