Regulatory regime change in world financial markets

BLT participants: Dr George Gilligan

External participants: Ken Coghill (Monash Governance Research Unit), International research team coordinated by Dr Justin O’Brien, Queen’s University, Belfast

Outline

This project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and coordinated by Dr Justin O’Brien, Queen’s University, Belfast, aims to explore the dominant effect of the United States regulatory regime on global markets and on the regulatory and economic governance regimes of states across the world. The starting point is the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act on corporate liability, which was introduced in the wake of a series of corporate scandals in the United States.

Introduced as a response to a domestic crisis, Sarbanes-Oxley has had global consequences. The project examines the responses to Sarbanes-Oxley in a number of specific states. These states, located at different stages of socio-economic development, are the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Partner institutions in Australia and elsewhere will produce case studies focusing on their own regimes. The Australian end of the project is being overseen by Dr George Gilligan (Department of Business Law and Taxation) and Ken Coghill (Monash Governance Research Unit).

The project begins by characterising the legislative and policy response to corporate governance scandals and evaluating their impact on the regulatory landscape in the US. It then explores the impact of these regulatory responses on the states in the study. Third, it assesses the role of local, cultural, institutional and political factors in mediating the subsequent response in these states, together with the influence of market and US governmental pressure. Finally, it assesses the current state of global regulatory practice, discusses future challenges and evaluates possible responses to these challenges.

Further information about this project can be found on Queen's University (Belfast) web site.

Current and proposed activities

BLT involvement in research project to commence in 2006.

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Group Director

Anthony Forsyth
Email Anthony Forsyth
Tel: + 61 3 9903-2917