Commentary by faculty and affiliates of the Duke Law Global Financial Markets Center
In a world turned upside down by COVID-19, it is difficult to keep track of the remorseless impacts that are being inflicted by global climate change. Yet, the science becomes clearer and clearer by the day, and the impacts are steadily affecting financial markets, themselves roiled by the virus. The connections between climate change and […]
As long as other countries are receiving the benefits of Negative Rates, the USA should also accept the “GIFT.” Big numbers! –Donald Trump On June 10, 2020, the U.S. Federal Reserve (‘the Fed’) voted to keep interest rates near zero in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and hinted that rates will remain unchanged […]
Although the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Seila Law v. CFPB this week has settled one very large question — Are for cause removal protections for the unitary head of a regulatory agency constitutional? — it has raised many more. Below are three impacts on banking and finance regulation that Seila Law will have beyond […]
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) were established to address distinct aspects of the Global Financial Crisis. The Home Ownership and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA)[1] created the FHFA to provide for enhanced and rigorous supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and […]
Introduction In August 2019, 181 members of the Business Roundtable, a nonprofit association whose members are chief executive officers of major U.S. companies, signed a “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation,” which represents a rebuke from a strong shareholder orientation towards a more modern stakeholder capitalism. Two of the five pillars described in the […]
Fintech is re-shaping the financial sector at an unprecedented pace and driving structural changes by digital transformation. Fintech can stimulate competition and product variety and generate positive outcomes for societies and economies. Capturing these upsides, however, requires adequate regulatory responses to Fintech innovation. An enabling FinTech ecosystem needs to support innovation balanced with financial inclusion, […]
The global spread of COVID-19 has triggered large disruptions in financial markets. In response, central banks, such as the Federal Reserve, have created and continue to run a range of facilities to improve liquidity in financial markets, with the goal of promoting economic recovery. How effective are these facilities during a pandemic? In this blog […]
Throughout history, evolving markets were subject to evolution and de-evolution cycles. The nascent market for digital assets is no exception. Since its inception in 2009, the rapid proliferation of the digital asset market in 2016-18 was followed by significant downward corrections in 2018-19 (called the “crypto winter”). Digital assets cover all types of virtual and […]
China’s shadow banking sector has grown rapidly in the last decade. While bank loans still dominate the financial system as a main source of funding, the shadow banking sector reached 32.9 percent of total social financing by 2016, though it then fell to 24.2% percent by 2019. Households and corporations benefit from the growing shadow […]
Commercial law is the legal backbone of markets and economies. Yet, over time, it has evolved into a fragmented bundle of subject-specific legal and regulatory regimes that govern non-consumer transactions and corporate actions. Some of these branches of commercial law have ancient origins, while others are more recent emergences. The laws governing secured transactions and […]