The Crypto Cycle and US Monetary Policy 

By | October 23, 2023
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Crypto assets exhibit considerable design and value proposition differences, ranging from inflation protection to facilitating more streamlined payments, ensuring censorship-resistant computing, and safeguarding property rights. Nevertheless, their prices often exhibit similar cyclical patterns. Surge periods with substantial returns have lured both retail and institutional investors. Meanwhile, the subsequent market downturns have garnered growing scrutiny from… Read More »

Using GPT-4 for Financial Advice 

By | October 20, 2023
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Text-based artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as GPT-4 enable tech-savvy laypeople to conduct tasks in complex domains with little prior experience. The financial sector, dealing with vast amounts of data daily, is among the industries most eagerly working on AI solutions. For example, Morgan Stanley’s asset management division was one of GPT-4’s first customers and… Read More »

Green Risk in Europe 

By | October 19, 2023
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Aligning financial market activity with policy and regulation interventions is necessary to foster an orderly transition to a carbon-free economy. For instance, within the European Green Deal strategy, the European Union Taxonomy provides firms, investors, and policymakers with detailed criteria to assess the environmental sustainability of economic activities concerning climate change mitigation and adaptation, among… Read More »

Green Bonds: A Legal and Economic Analysis 

By | October 12, 2023
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Green bonds are fixed-income securities issued by private corporations or public bodies (such as central banks or governments) to finance environmentally beneficial (“green”) projects. They are a relatively novel creation of international finance (what is considered the first ever green bond, the European Investment Bank’s “Climate Awareness Bond”, was created in 2007), but one that… Read More »

Bringing two worlds together: The investor-policy maker interface in collaborative sovereign engagement initiatives

By | September 28, 2023
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The importance of public policy has increased for investors since 2015, when governments committed to shifting trillions of dollars to be consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement and to increase investments in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Further, investors have accepted the influence of ESG factors on delivering financial returns, recognizing the need… Read More »

The Keys to Sovereign Development Fund Success 

By | September 19, 2023
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Demand for infrastructure investment continues to ramp up amid growing commitments to a low-carbon future and rapid economic growth in developing countries. The nature of this “scaling up” challenge requires capital that governments cannot provide alone, necessitating the utilization of private capital. Institutional investors collectively possess the financial resources ($16 trillion in “direct” investment capacity)… Read More »

Civil Liability in the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Proposal 

By | September 18, 2023
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On June 1, 2023, the European Parliament substantially amended the European Commission’s proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). Since my first comment on the Commission’s proposal, I have focused on Art. 22, establishing civil liability for failure to carry out due diligence. Functionally, this liability aims to counter multinational corporations’ strategic use… Read More »

Legal Hurdles for Holding Compliance Gatekeepers Accountable  

By | September 7, 2023
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There is a consensus that compliance is a critical issue in corporate governance. Yet there remains a gaping hole in our understanding of what determines the effectiveness of compliance programs. Specifically, we know relatively little about the role of third-party compliance advisors.   Nowadays, virtually every large law firm or accounting firm sells various “compliance… Read More »

Cybercrime on the Ethereum Blockchain 

By | September 6, 2023
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While Bitcoin is still the largest cryptocurrency in the world by market capitalization, the Ethereum blockchain maintains the unique ability to tokenize assets and execute smart contracts. These benefits for businesses and investors also come with additional opportunities for cybercriminals, such as when a company simply runs away with the money after tokenizing its assets. … Read More »

The Rise and Fall, and Possible Rise Again, of the Use of Infringement Notices by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission 

By | September 5, 2023
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Australia’s corporate and securities regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), has extensive enforcement powers that it can use to ensure compliance with the law. One of these is the power to issue infringement notices. An infringement notice is an administrative mechanism that ASIC can use as a response to misconduct. It is issued… Read More »