Financial regulation

Financial regulations are a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the integrity of the financial system. This may be handled by either a government or non-government organization.

Aims of regulation

The specific aims of financial regulators are usually:

• To enforce applicable laws
• To prosecute cases of market misconduct, such as insider trading
• To license providers of financial services
• To protect clients, and investigate complaints
• To maintain confidence in the financial system

Authority by Country

See main article List of financial regulatory authorities by country

The following is a short listing of regulatory authorities in various jurisdictions, for a more complete listing, please see list of financial regulatory authorities by country.

• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), USA
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), USA
• Federal Reserve System ("Fed"), USA
• Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), USA
• Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), USA
• National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), USA
• Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), USA
• Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC), Japan
• Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA), Canada
• Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Ireland
• Financial Services Authority (FSA), UK
• Securities and Exchange Board of India, India
• Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), France
• Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), Taiwan
• China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), People's Republic of China
• China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC), People's Republic of China
• China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), People's Republic of China
• Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, Mexico

Unique jurisdictions

In most cases, financial regulatory authorities regulate all financial activities. But in some cases, there are specific authorities to regulate each sector of finance industry, mainly banking, securities, insurance and pensions markets, but in some cases also commodities, futures, forwards, etc. For example, in Australia, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) supervises banks and insurers. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is responsible for enforcing financial services and corporations laws.

Sometimes more than one institution regulate and supervise banking market, normally because, apart from regulatory authorities, Central Banks also regulate banking industry. For example, in USA banking is regulated by a lot of regulators, such the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

In addition, there are also associations of financial regulatory authorities. In the EU, there are the Committee Of European Securities Regulators (CESR), the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) and the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS), which are Level-3 committees of the European Union in the Lamfalussy process. And, at a world level, we have the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

See also

• Securities Commission
• Bank regulation
• Insurance regulation
• Pensions regulation
• Commodity market#Regulation of commodity markets
• Finance

External links

• www.qfinance.com Financial Regulation Best Practice from QFINANCE.com
• Securities Lawyer's Deskbook from the University of Cincinnati College of Law
• Securities Law Home Page
• The Compliance Exchange Jonathan Halsey's financial regulation research resource
• ICFR (The International Centre for Financial Regulation)
• Ana Carvajal, Jennifer Elliott: IMF Study Points to Gaps in Securities Market Regulation
• IOSCO: Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation (PDF-Datei 67 Seiten)
• The Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance The Samuel & Ronnie Heyman Center on Corporate Governance
• FSA Regulation in the UK Simply Compliance Ltd for information on FSA Regulation in the UK
• Rahul Prabhakar, "And Then There Was One: Conglomeration, Internationalization & the Formation of Consolidated Financial Supervisors," SSRN 3/2009