Financial Regulation in a Global Marketplace

RAPID TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE, conglomeration, mergers, and globalization are rocking the financial industry here and abroad. In this paper we primarily address the implications of globalization for prudential regulation of firms in the financial industry. However, given the importance of the other three forces—and the extent to which they reinforce or are by-products of the trend toward globalization—we address them as well. Our bottom line is that regulators at both the national and international level will have to respond increasingly to market-driven changes. In particular, as financial institutions delve into a wider range of products and activities, policymakers almost certainly will have to decide whether they want to establish a single regulator to oversee all types of financial activity or whether they will be content with the segmented regulatory system long in place in some countries, such as the United States. We note that a trend outside the United States seems to be under way toward creation of a single national financial regulator, independent of the central bank, a development we cautiously support.