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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
In recent years, the financial industry has been increasingly pressured to actively contribute to addressing critical societal challenges, such as climate change. Now, many investors expect their money to be managed in a way that promotes positive environmental and social change. Given these expectations, there is a growing interest in understanding the real impact of… Read More »
In the U.S., the rise in healthcare costs has been the subject of intense public and regulatory scrutiny. Average health insurance premiums have risen steadily over the past few years, outpacing inflation. However, the negative consequences of this economic rise are not fully understood. In particular, a significant portion of the rise in healthcare costs… Read More »
The March 2023 bank run on Credit Suisse (CS) has received much attention. As a result of this bank run, the Swiss banking regulator (FINMA) pushed for the merger of CS with UBS, another large Swiss bank, thus creating one of the biggest banking unions in history. The demise of CS shook faith in a… Read More »
In the world of student loans, things look grim. Borrowers owe an estimated $1.6 trillion in student loans—a figure which is second only to mortgage debt in the total amount of consumer debt attributed to Americans. Student loan borrower were hopeful that the Biden administration—which promised to provide up to $20,000 in relief for student… Read More »
In the lead-up to the debate about the Data Privacy Act of 2023, Financial Services Committee members received letters from consumer groups and finance trade associations, urging them to vote for or against the contentious legislation. The Data Privacy Act of 2023 garnered opposition from consumer advocacy groups and support from finance trade associations. The… Read More »
Variance among assessments of a company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities is not necessarily the product of error or bias, as is sometimes presumed in the literature. The presumption that there is a singular ESG value at which assessments must converge is counter-productive to the very nature of ESG reforms, which stem from the… Read More »
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