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Dear
delegate,
Over
the last decade, the legal environment in which central banks
and financial market authorities operate has undergone far-reaching
changes. Often, these legal and institutional changes bring
with them new challenges and risks. In response, legal advisers
and departments in both developed and developing countries
need to prepare their institutions to meet these challenges
- in addition to their traditional work. This four-day residential
course has been designed to offer legal officers a chance
to meet and consider, in practical terms, how best to react
to this changing landscape. The course addresses four key
areas:
- Legal
risk profile of central banks and supervisors: Nobody
can ignore the growing readiness of those with a complaint
against the central bank or supervisory authority to take
legal action. How can this challenge best be met?
- Good
governance: Senior decision makers recognise the critical
importance of good governance for central banks and supervisory
agencies. However, models of good corporate governance cannot
be imported wholesale. How can official-sector institutions
best implement good governance? What do international comparisons
reveal?
- Accountability:
National and international actors demand more transparency
and accountability. How to react?
- International
developments: Financial market authorities are under
enormous pressure to stamp out money laundering and meet
a host of other international standards. How, in practice,
can this be done?
In
addition, a key workshop, lead by Professor Charles Goodhart
of the London School of Economics, examines how central bankers
and regulators can measure - and thus demonstrate to their
stakeholders - success.
Underpinning all these points is the recognition that legal
officers need to be proactive in addressing the legal and
governance risks which their institutions are likely to face
in a fast-changing world. This training course/seminar offers
senior law officers an up-to-date guide to the implications
of central bank policymaking and restructuring in the light
of selected recent experience and emerging international standards
of best practice.
We look forward to welcoming you to Cambridge.
Yours
sincerely,
William Clarke CBE PhD
Chairman, Central Banking Publications
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:::Monday
1st SEPTEMBER
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STATUTORY
MANDATES AND GOVERNANCE
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The
changing central bank mandate
Professor
René Smits
Director, legal department, Netherlands Competition
Authority
(former General Counsel, De Nederlandsche Bank)
As
the role of central banks and regulatory agencies has
evolved, the job of managing these institutions has
become more complex. Even agencies with well defined
mandates and clear accountability structures must strive
to define their role and carve out an institutional
remit. This session concentrates on the key changes
which affect central banks and regulatory agencies and
investigates how different statutes/legal frameworks
can affect governance and performance.
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Governance
challenges for central banks - case studies
Roundtable discussion led by Professor
René Smits
What
are the key governance challenges currently confronting
law officers in central banks and regulatory agencies?
This session aims to provide a perspective on the most
pressing international legal issues by asking delegates
to speak briefly on developments and challenges in their
own institutions and jurisdictions. Through discussion
and debate, delegates will have an opportunity to benefit
from each other's expertise and experience. This session
examines how governance standards can contribute to
an agency's effectiveness and reduce its risk profile.
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Measuring
performance in central banks and regulatory agencies
Professor
Charles Goodhart
Professor of Banking and Finance, London School of Economics
Both
central banks and regulatory agencies are under continuing
pressure to demonstrate to stakeholders that they are
fulfilling their mandates in an efficient and effective
manner: for many agencies this is a statutory requirement.
However, the practical and conceptual difficulties of
measuring performance in these fields are daunting.
This workshop investigates a new framework for analysing
these critical issues - offering central banks and regulatory
agencies an improved means of demonstrating their effectiveness.
Professor Charles Goodhart, himself formerly a member
of the Bank of England's monetary policy committee,
brings formidable experience as a practising central
banker and a leading scholar of central banking and
financial regulation to bear on this issue. He draws
on both practical and theoretical experience in this
presentation on measuring performance. How can central
banks set and monitor standards for their own performance
whether in the fields of monetary policy or in supervision?
Should they set internal standards distinct from those
set for them, explicitly or implicitly, by parliament
or the public? In short, how do supervisors and central
bankers know when they are doing a good job and when
they are falling short?
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:::Tuesday
2nd SEPTEMBER
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ACCOUNTABILTY
AND LIABILITY
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Transparency
and financial reporting
Andrew
Hawkins
Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Central
banks are under pressure to adopt "best practice" when
it comes to financial disclosure. What does this mean
in practice? In particular, to what extent can and should
central banks adopt the same accounting standards and
practices as commercial banks? How does financial transparency
contribute to the core tasks of the central bank or
supervisor?
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Accountability
for central banks and supervisors
Dr Rosa Lastra
Senior Lecturer in Law, Centre for Commercial Law
Studies, Queen Mary College, University of London
As
central banks and supervisors are given more autonomy,
accountability - to parliament, public and via the media
- becomes ever more critical. However, precisely what
is accountability held to comprise, and how can it be
squared with other core functions? This session offers
a building block approach to thinking about accountability
and explains how different audiences can best be satisfied
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Central
bank liability in civil law jurisdictions
Professor Michel Tison
Law School, University of Ghent
Increasingly,
policy decisions by central banks and supervisory agencies
are being questioned in the courts. The potential for
decisions to be reversed by judicial authorities can
seriously undermine the authority of central banks and
regulators. This session examines the implications of
this trend in civil law jurisdictions and how leading
institutions in EU countries address the issue.
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As
central banks perform their many public policy roles
(in monetary policy, and as supervisor, market participant,
and agent of the government) they are exposed to a variety
of legal risks. Increasingly, central banks and supervisors
may find themselves forced to account for their actions
in a judicial setting. We examine key recent cases and
the future implications of this trend.
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Minimising
the legal risk profile for central banks and supervisors
Roundtable discussion with Professor Michel Tison
and Charles Proctor
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:::Wednesday
3rd SEPTEMBER
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THE
INTERNATIONAL DIMENSION
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Banking
law and central banks
Speaker to be confirmed
Although
they operate in many ways as arms of national governments
and thus enjoy a measure of sovereign immunity, central
banks and financial market authorities can not remain
unaffected by developments in commercial banking law
around this world. This session examines the critical
recent developments in banking law which most affect
central banks and regulatory agencies.
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Cross-border
funds transfers: the role of the central bank
Thomas Baxter
General Counsel, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The
recently issued core principles for large payment systems
spell out central banks' responsibilities for their
national payment system. However, important issues concerning
cross-border, and in particular dollar, payments are
still unresolved. Thomas Baxter, general counsel and
executive vice president of the legal group at the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, discusses the issue.
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IT
systems: limiting operational risk
Jim
Etherington
Head of Information Technology, ECB (invited)
Operational
risk can be interpreted as the risk of losses from breakdowns
in processes, human or system failure or external events.
Crucial to all these areas in modern-day central banking
is information technology. The rapid revolution in information
technology has delivered solutions, but it also presents
new risks. How can central banks limit these?
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Creating
and implementing effective contingency plans
Speaker to be confirmed
The
terrorist attacks on New York in 2001 have highlighted
the need for central banks to have effective contingency
plans and efficient management structures to deliver
them. What systems are necessary to maintain central
bank services in order to preserve confidence in local
and international markets? This session outlines approaches
to systems design and procedures for disaster planning.
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:::Thursday
4th SEPTEMBER
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EXTRATERRITORIALITY
AND CROSS-BORDER LEGAL ISSUES
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Extraterritoriality
and US money-laundering regulation
Dr
Kern Alexander
Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge
The
US Financial Services and Modernization Act 2000 and
the recent PATRIOT Act provide US authorities with substantial
new powers to regulate the global activities of multinational
banks. This raises profound legal and cooperation issues
for central banks. This talk will also address issues
of extraterritorial legal process regarding money laundering.
In its pursuit of Iraqi assets the US administration
has sought the confiscation of over half a billion dollars
held outside its own borders. The speaker will discuss
the implications for national authorities and payment
systems of the US financial war on Iraq.
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