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.
[edit] 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
[edit] 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
[edit] 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, we have 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 word level, we have the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
to Systemic stability:- The absence of crises such as bank failure in the financial system
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
