ABSTRACT
Over the last three decades, there has been a clear trend towards globalised finance. Large financial groups are run on a global basis, spreading their business – with almost no exception – over the three main regions of the developed world (the Americas, Europe and Asia). In response, regulations are also increasingly based on a global (Basel, International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS)) or regional (EU) footing to ensure their effectiveness as well as an international level playing field. However, supervisory authorities, who enforce these regulations, are still nationally rooted with some elements of international or regional coordination. The national base of supervisors is related to political sovereignty (Herring and Litan, 1994). In a more practical sense, it also related to the issue of jurisdiction. One needs a jurisdiction for enforcement of regulations, liquidation and winding-up procedures and taxation.
