International regulation: the next financial markets threat
By Deirdre McMurdy, Sympatico / MSN Finance
It was only a matter of time: now that the horse is well down the road, it's time to bolt the barn door.
Whenever there is a crisis - especially one in financial markets that causes acute political pressure - the most common reaction is to throw all manner of reactive regulation at the situation. Well after the fact, of course, and regardless of the new problems that myriad new rules may cause those who are trying to operate their way out of a tight spot.
So it is with the European Union's decision to collaborate on a tough new regulatory regime for global financial markets. That pre-emptive strike is designed to force the hand of the U.S. and Canada, countries that favor a lighter hand on the wheel, in part because of the lessons learned from the damaging fallout from the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.
With market confidence hanging in the balance, the Sarbanes-Oxley rules (better known as SOx-which makes them sound far more benign than they are) made it much more difficult for public companies in the U.S. and the many inter-listed Canadian ventures, to get on with business. It wrapped them up in red tape and added a big bow.
Of course transparency and disclosure and solid regulations are an important part of any recovery strategy. But the idea that one set of rules could ever fit all - especially when you consider the difference between European and North American economies and business cultures - is unrealistic. And not a little frightening.
We need to collaborate, but still retain the right to craft our own solutions. Toadvocate otherwise is really more about political posturing than anything else. And we've all had quite enough of that domestically without taking it global.
Posted by: Steve | Feb 23, 2022 2:41:36 PM
Yes.... Multi-National regulation and monitoring is bad. ESPECIALLY if you are fleecing Shareholders or pensioners money and hiding it in a Swiss bank account.
Unless I am mistaken, the problem that we have had, is that the French and Canadian Regulators haven't been able to monitor what's been going on in the US/UK/German Banks & Hedge funds.
Ask yourself this, If you were sick and couldn't work would you rather be a poor Frenchman or a poor American? Sure the Sarbanes-Oxley rules were bad but is the Madoff/Lehman/Sir Allen Stanford world better?
Oil rocketing between $35 & $147 / Barrel, Volkswagen quadrupling in price before crashing back to earth, Banks on 1% Base rate loans needing to be bailed out by the customers they are charging 19% on credit cards to, food prices spiking and then collapsing, etc, etc, etc.
Putting children in charge of pension funds is, and has been shown to be a horrible idea. As the banks & hedge funds refuse to put adults in charge, the governments MUST put adults in a position to monitor and if need be, control what is going on lest a revolution takes hold.
Recent History has shown that the Americans are incapable of monitoring themselves, hence a global monitoring structure sadly is a must.