LEGAL RISKS AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
FOR CENTRAL BANKS AND SUPERVISORS
Over the last decade, the environment in
which legal advisers to central banks and financial market authorities
operate has undergone far-reaching changes. These legal and
institutional changes have brought with them new challenges
and risks.
In response, legal advisers in both developed
and developing countries are preparing their institutions for
this new environment - in addition to their traditional work.
Delegates participating in this four-day residential course
will learn how leading institutions are in practice meeting
these challenges. 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 recognize the critical importance of good governance
for central banks and supervisory agencies. However, the appropriate
model of corporate governance remains elusive. The group learns
how official-sector institutions are implementing good governance,
and the lessons to be drawn from international comparisons.
Accountability: National and
international actors demand more transparency and accountability.
How to react?
International developments:
Financial market authorities in industrial and developing countries
are under enormous pressure to stamp out money laundering and
meet a host of international standards. How, in practice, can
this be done is a challenge for financial market authorities
world-wide. The delegates will learn latest trends in best practice.
In addition, a key workshop examines the practical measures
that central banks and supervisory authorities should undertake
to strengthen their institutional processes and forestall perceived
or actual conflicts of interest or governance or ethics failings.
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 Ltd
Monday 30th AUGUST
Registration
Tuesday 31st AUGUST
CHANGING
MANDATES AND RISKS Chairman:
René Smits, Director, Legal Department, Netherlands
Competition Authority
Director, legal department, Netherlands
Competition Authority 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 institutional
remit. This session concentrates on the key changes
which affect central banks and regulatory agencies,
and investigates how different statutes/legal frameworks
affect governance and performance. Legal
challenges for central banks - case studies
Roundtable discussion led by Professor
René Smits
What are the key challenges
currently confronting law officers in central banks
and regulatory agencies? This session aims to provide
an insight into 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. Supervisory
liability in civil law countries Professor Michel Tison Financial
Law Institute, 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 looks at how leading
institutions in EU countries address the issue. Legal
risks for central banks and regulators Charles Proctor Partner,
Nabarro Nathanson
As central banks and supervisors
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. With particular reference to
common law jurisdictions the speaker examines key
recent cases including that of the Bank of England
and BCCI. Minimising
the legal risk profile for central banks and supervisors Roundtable discussion withProfessor Michel TisonandCharles
Proctor
Wednesday 1st SEPTEMBER
GOVERNANCE
FOR CENTRAL BANKS AND SUPERVISORS
Accountability
and independence 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 independence, accountability - to parliament,
public and via the media - becomes ever more critical.
However, precisely what does accountability comprise?
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. Making
sense of governance for central banks Thomas Baxter General Counsel,
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Dr Chiara Zilioli Deputy General
Counsel, European Central Bank As the roles and functions
of central banks and financial regulatory agencies develop,
so too must the internal governance structures which
underpin them. However, how central banks and other
independent agencies approach their own corporate governance
differs widely in practice. Issues of ethics, confidentiality,
integrity and independence must all be worked out within
the context of widely differing national jurisdictions.
This workshop will consider some of the alternate approaches
to corporate governance at two of the largest and most
influential central banks: the New York Fed and the
European Central Bank. The group will then draw on delegates'
own experiences of governance issues at their own institutions
in order to review the key elements of best practice
in this area. New developments
in international corporate governance Marino Perassi Banca D'Italia
Recent corporate failures have underlined
the debilitating and destructive potential of conflicts
of interest between institutional stakeholders. Corporate
scandals have been followed by significant new legislation
in both US and Europe aimed at strengthening company
law and practice. Central banks and supervisory agencies
cannot stand aloof from this new governance paradigm.
This session reviews the key elements of this transition
- the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in the US, and forthcoming
European legislation at both national and EU level -
and examines the implications for central banks and
regulators.
Thursday 2nd SEPTEMBER
ETHICS
AND SUPERVISION
Ethics
for central banks and supervisors Workshop
Formal ethics policies
provide a crucial buttress against actual or perceived
conflicts of interest. However, to work effectively
central banks and supervisory authorities need to participate
in the markets which they oversee and supervise. Balancing
demands for integrity with the ongoing need for effective
participation continues to create challenges for all
independent authorities. This workshop will examine
- though case studies presented by delegates - how in
fact different central banks and supervisory authorities
have tackled difficult issues. Central
bank law in developing countries Adesegun A. Akin-Olugbade General Counsel,
African Development Bank
Financial market authorities in developing
countries face a particular set of challenges: protections
against political interference may be weaker; financial
systems less robust, and the macroeconomic environment
as a whole less forgiving. This session examines some
of these questions from a developing - country perspective
and looks at how central banks and other authorities
can work to mitigate the attendant risks. Regulatory
governance Udaibir
Das Deputy Chief, Financial
System Surveillance Division
International Monetary Fund (invited)
Nowhere are legal and governance
arrangements under more strain that in the supervision
and oversight of financial markets. According to the
findings of the IMF Financial Sector Assessment Programme,
weak governance arrangements at supervisory agencies
are too often the "weak link" in national financial
systems. This session examines what legal and governance
arrangements are necessary for supervisors, and how
these must support the integrity of staff, and help
defend against interference from other authorities.
Friday
3rd SEPTEMBER
INTERNATIONAL
LINKAGES
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 these developments.
Sovereign
immunity and legal risk
Speaker to be confirmed
Central banks, in pursuit of governmental business,
frequently enjoy sovereign immunity. However this immunity
can be eroded under certain circumstances. This session
considers the key legal immunities often enjoyed by
central banks - with particular emphasis on their international
activities.
HOW TO REGISTER
Places on these seminars are strictly limited
and allocated on a first-come first-served basis.To register for any
of these courses, please download and print the Registration
Form (or the final page of the PDF version of the relevant
course programme), fill in the details as appropriate and fax to Central
Banking Publications on +44 20 7388 9040
