Tag Archives: finance

A Critical Analysis of the SEC’s Reaction to Crypto Lending 

By | May 20, 2022

For the past several years, investors around the world who are interested in owning and holding certain cryptoassets for the long term have had the opportunity to deposit their assets with various companies and protocols and earn interest. One such company is CoinLoan, based in Europe and regulated under applicable EU financial law. It offers… Read More »

The End of the War or the Commencement of Battle?  

By | May 19, 2022

Cryptocurrency Regulation in China  In September 2021, China’s central bank, its highest court and procuracy, as well as seven other national government departments and agencies jointly enacted a legally binding Notice on Further Preventing and Disposing of the Risks of Speculative Trading in Virtual Currencies (“Notice”), marking the culmination of China’s yearslong war against cryptocurrencies.… Read More »

Capital Markets and Corporate Governance Standards

By | May 18, 2022

Corporate governance has over time moved from being a peripheral to a central issue for capital markets regulation. Our recent research focuses on how that transformation has occurred in the UK and how it has adjusted the default provisions of UK corporate law.   We begin with the observation that corporate governance was not a significant… Read More »

Third-Party Litigation Finance and Public Capital Markets: The Case of the Muddy Waters Short Attack on Burford Capital

By | May 13, 2022

Imagine a company that invests in a portfolio of long-term financial assets. This company’s asset portfolio is, relative to the asset management industry, highly concentrated—a circumstance which naturally heightens the appetite of the company’s own investors to know more details of the assets in the portfolio. The company operates in an adolescent industry, and neither… Read More »

Non-Intermediate Clearing of Crypto Derivatives on Margin is a Bad Idea

By | May 12, 2022

The following is an edited comment letter that was submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, or Commission) on May 11th in regards to the Commission’s request for comment on FTX’s request to amend their derivatives clearing organization order to permit it to clear non-intermediated, margined products. All submitted comments can be viewed here. We are law professors… Read More »

Policy Uncertainty, Earnings Management, and the Role of Political Connections 

By | May 9, 2022

Political decisions shape the operating environment for the economy as well as the individual firm. Political and regulatory reactions to the Global Financial Crisis, government shutdowns, or major tax reforms number prominently among them. As reactions from political actors are rarely clear-cut ex ante, grave crises give rise to political uncertainty.  Political uncertainty affects economic… Read More »

Secondary markets and the power of the enforcement of insider trading laws

By | April 28, 2022

To facilitate small and high growth firms in need of finance, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) introduced a secondary market, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), in 1995. The AIM is a lightly regulated market, with minimum eligibility criteria and ongoing obligations, which was initially considered to be a stepping-stone to the traditionally regulated Main Market… Read More »

The Media Goes Where They’re Needed: The Relation between Firms’ Investor Base and Media Coverage

By | April 27, 2022

The financial media provides information to investors by monitoring firms for malfeasance, such as fraud and excessive CEO pay (Miller, 2006; Core, Guay, and Larcker, 2008). The media also helps investors monitor more mundane corporate activities, such as periodic earnings announcements. However, it is unclear why certain firms get extensive media coverage, along with the resulting benefits,… Read More »

Of standards and technology: ISDA and technological change in the OTC derivatives market

By | April 25, 2022

There is no lack of interest in new technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT) or smart contract technology (SCT). For enthusiasts, DLT and SCT are full of promise. Thanks to technology, the future is meant to be frictionless and more decentralized. However, interest in the “plumbing” underneath, which is required to implement the vision… Read More »

Comments to the SEC on its Proposed Rule on Beneficial Ownership

By | April 20, 2022

The following post summarizes a comment letter to the SEC on its proposed rule to shorten the required filing time for disclosing the acquisition of more than five percent equity share in a public company. All comments can be found here. Under the Modernization of Beneficial Ownership Reporting (proposed rule), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeks to shorten… Read More »