LAWS357-18S2 (C) Semester Two 2018

Special Topic: Financial Regulation

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 16 July 2018
End Date: Sunday, 18 November 2018
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 27 July 2018
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 12 October 2018

Description

This course aims to give students a solid understanding of the international and national financial regulatory framework and main pieces of financial regulatory legislation.

The latest global financial crisis highlighted a number of serious shortcomings in the regulation of the global financial system, and financial regulation has been at center stage ever since. Policymakers worldwide are putting tremendous effort in reassessing the basic assumptions underlying their respective financial regulatory approaches and methodologies to reduce the likelihood of a crisis of such magnitude occurring ever again. But is this a realistic goal? Can good financial regulation prevent future financial crises or is the financial system unavoidably prone to failure from time to time and we are merely retreating into a false sense of complacency while waiting for the next disaster? If there is hope, what can we do better?

This inherently interdisciplinary course will go after these questions drawing on a variety of disciplines, including, economics, law, and political science. Students will first explore key theoretical and practical issues widely regarded as central to the study of regulation. Among other things, the course will analyze the concept of and rationales for regulation, the factors determining the quality, success, and failure of regulation, various regulatory theories and strategies, and challenges around the enforcement, evaluation, and influencing of regulatory policies. Armed with these insights, we will then turn our attention to financial regulation in particular. The course will introduce the concept and functioning of financial systems and guide students through the goals, strategies, and limits of financial regulation. It will also familiarize students with the overall financial regulatory landscape discussing the respective merits and shortcomings of prevalent financial regulatory architectures, the role and modus operandi of the main actors, and key pieces of legislation in all three financial sectors – banking, insurance, and securities – in both the national and international arena. Moreover, taking account of technological development in the financial sector, the course will give a short overview of novel financial technologies used for delivery of financial services.

Due to its global and holistic focus, as well as interdisciplinary nature, this course will be of interest for law, economics, and finance students who wish to pursue a career in public policy and regulation, seek employment with major financial institutions, wish to practice as financial lawyers, or contemplate an academic career in financial regulation or a related legal or economics field.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will have:
1.  An understanding of the concept and overall functioning of regulation in general and financial regulation in particular both in the national and global context.
2.  Acquired capacity to identify and apply different regulatory concepts and theories to assess and critically evaluate the core characteristics, institutional properties, and overall quality of a given regulatory regime – be it within or outside the realm of financial regulation – as well as to compare different regimes from an interdisciplinary perspective.  
3.  The capacity to perform independent research in the area of domestic and international financial regulation by virtue of familiarity with a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary sources, including complex and technical pieces of financial regulation and financial regulatory standards from different legal systems.
4.  Developed valuable analytical and research skills across law, economics, and political science, conveying them the necessary expertise for a career both in public policy and regulation and in the private sector in any policy domain featuring a high level of technical regulation.    
5.  Developed a general awareness towards various political and cultural preferences and path dependencies, and the resulting complexities of coordinating between different regions, nations, ethnicities, and interest groups when developing regulatory policies.
6. Acquired capacity to work independently and manage their time in order to meet course deadlines.

University Graduate Attributes

This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

Critically competent in a core academic discipline of their award

Students know and can critically evaluate and, where applicable, apply this knowledge to topics/issues within their majoring subject.

Employable, innovative and enterprising

Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.

Biculturally competent and confident

Students will be aware of and understand the nature of biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, and its relevance to their area of study and/or their degree.

Engaged with the community

Students will have observed and understood a culture within a community by reflecting on their own performance and experiences within that community.

Globally aware

Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.

Prerequisites

(i) LAWS101, and (ii) LAWS110. Students enrolled in other degrees at 300 level, who do not have the specified prerequisites and co-requisites, but have completed appropriate courses in another discipline, may apply to the Head of Department for a waiver.

Co-requisites

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Olivia Erdelyi

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Essay 10 Sep 2018 50%
Presentation 20%
Final Exam 30%


The assessment in this course may consist of a Group Essay and Presentation and a Final Exam.  The assessment will be confirmed at the commencement of the course.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $790.00

International fee $3,600.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Faculty of Law .

All LAWS357 Occurrences

  • LAWS357-18S2 (C) Semester Two 2018