LWMFIN-Legal Aspects of International Financial Regulation

Module Provider: School of Law
Number of credits: 10 [5 ECTS credits]
Level:7
Terms in which taught: Spring term module
Pre-requisites:
Non-modular pre-requisites: Registered for a postgraduate programme in Law or selected MA programmes or with permission of the Director of PGT Studies in Law.
Co-requisites:
Modules excluded:
Current from: 2023/4

Module Convenor: Dr Andrea Miglionico
Email: a.miglionico@reading.ac.uk

Type of module:

Summary module description:

This module aims to help students understand:

• The legal basis, nature and purpose of financial regulation.


• The financial context and the organisation, purpose and structure of regulators.


• Soft law and hard law mechanisms – how regulators seek to address the risks posed to various stakeholders.��


• Regulatory policy development.


• Prudential and conduct of business aspects to regulation when managed and supervised by multi-agency regulatory bodies in financial markets.��


• The role of governance and culture in financial firms.


• Factors that make the financial services regulation and supervision complex or problematic.��


• The interaction between regulators, senior managers, risk managers, compliance professionals and auditors.


• The change and evolution of the regulatory architecture and framework for domestic and international financial institutions, especially post-crisis.��

Aims:

This module aims to help students understand:

• The legal basis, nature and purpose of financial regulation.


• The financial context and the organisation, purpose and structure of regulators.


• Soft law and hard law mechanisms – how regulators seek to address the risks posed to various stakeholders.��


• Regulatory policy development.


• Prudential and conduct of business aspects to regulation when managed and supervised by multi-agency regulatory bodies in financial markets.��


• The role of governance and culture in financial firms.


• Factors that make the financial services regulation and supervision complex or problematic.��


• The interaction between regulators, senior managers, risk managers, compliance professionals and auditors.


• The change and evolution of the regulatory architecture and framework for domestic and international financial institutions, especially post-crisis.��

Assessable learning outcomes:

On completion of the module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Critically assess and compare the rules governing securities firms and other financial institutions in key jurisdictions.


2. Understand the regulatory processes that bring the law into being.


3. Critically assess the role of financial institutions from a combined legal and economic perspective.


4. Understand the tools and processes of financial supervision and crisis management.


5. Explain the relationships between regulated financial institutions and their regulators.��

Additional outcomes:

In addition to those listed in the School’s “core skills statement”, the module will encourage the development of:

• High-level oral communication skills through reflective, analytical class discussion.


• High-level writing skills through close and critical analysis of both primary and secondary source material.


• An ability to apply theoretical and contextual knowledge to practical problems that face people working in the field.

Outline content:

The purpose of this course is to examine the regulation of financial institutions and markets, and to contribute to a critical understanding of the subject matter through the analysis of the most relevant areas of financial market regulation, such as banking and securities. This subject has become very topical in the aftermath of global financial crisis, which has brought the issues of regulation, supervision and crisis management to the forefront of legal, economic and policy debate.

The course provides a contextual approach to the study of financial regulation, drawing on