Making markets better and safer

One of the critical questions arising from the international financial crisis is how to make international securities markets work better and more safely in the future.  The authorities in Europe are implementing a series of measures in an attempt to achieve this: regulating credit rating agencies (CRAs); requiring originators of securitisations to keep 5% “skin in the game” under the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD); clearing through central counterparties (CCPs); and improving transparency in the primary and secondary over-the-counter (OTC) markets.  Similar measures are being considered elsewhere.  It is clear that more attention will be given to the regulation of financial products in wholesale as well as retail markets, and that regulation of individual financial institutions will become more intrusive, in the period ahead than before the crisis.

Key papers on financial supervision and responses by ICMA to consultations on European initiatives