Patterns of international financial regulation : a case study of sovereign wealth funds

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have been under severe scrutiny and the object of enormous criticism during the past years. These government-owned investment vehicles have created, and will continue to create, a significant debate about whether they can operate within the established International Fin...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Donegá, Raul Pinheiro
Language:English
Published: University of British Columbia 2012
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42167
Description
Summary:Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) have been under severe scrutiny and the object of enormous criticism during the past years. These government-owned investment vehicles have created, and will continue to create, a significant debate about whether they can operate within the established International Financial Markets (IFM). Indeed, their relevance to the current economic, political and financial landscape cannot be overstated, as they challenge received notions of practice and governance embodied in the IFM regulatory framework. In this thesis, I suggest a different approach to how SWFs phenomenon is dealt with. In contrast with other authors, my analysis and prescriptions go beyond trying to reshape SWFs’ governance mechanisms or management; it takes into consideration patterns of international financial regulation and assesses the deep roots of IFM regulatory framework and operational rationale in order to provide answers to the SWFs problem. The endeavor questions the premises from which international financial regulation derives by considering the rational choice theory of compliance and regulatory models based on self-interest as models to prescribe normative action. The contribution of this thesis is to provide a new regulatory approach towards SWFs.