Author Archives: Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Changes to CFTC Regulations Affecting Private Funds

Who Is Affected? As a result of recent changes made to the Commodity Exchange Act by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd-Frank Act) and new Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the CFTC) rules, private fund sponsors investing in commodity interests need to examine their portfolios and determine whether they are subject […]

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Posted in Financial Regulation, Practitioner Publications, Private Equity | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Industry Expertise on Corporate Boards

In our paper, Industry Expertise on Corporate Boards, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, we propose and study a measure of board industry expertise. The question of who should sit on corporate boards has attracted significant academic and regulatory efforts in recent years. For example, on December 16, 2009, the U.S. Securities and […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Boards of Directors | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Investor Protection through Audit Oversight

Editor’s Note: The following post comes to us from Lewis H. Ferguson, board member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. This post is based on Mr. Ferguson’s remarks at an SEC Financial Reporting Conference. The views expressed in this post are those of Mr. Ferguson and should not be attributed to the PCAOB as […]

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Posted in Accounting & Disclosure, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Securities Regulation, Speeches & Testimony | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Inside Debt, Bank Default Risk, and Performance during the Crisis

The role of executive compensation as a possible cause of the recent financial crisis has attracted significant attention from the public, policy makers, and researchers. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd Frank Act), which was signed into law on July 21, 2010, requires the regulatory agencies to prohibit the incentive-based […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Banking & Financial Institutions, Executive Compensation, Financial Crisis | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Inside Debt, Bank Default Risk, and Performance during the Crisis

Pan-European Short Selling Regulation

I. Introduction and Overview As previously described in our memorandum on the pan-European short selling regulation [1], the European Commission (the Commission) adopted a proposal on September 15, 2010 to harmonize the regulation of short sales and credit default swaps across the European Union. [2] On March 14, 2012, the European Parliament and the Council […]

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Posted in Derivatives, Financial Regulation, International Corporate Governance & Regulation, Practitioner Publications, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Which Skills Matter in the Market for CEOs?

In the paper, Which Skills Matter in the Market for CEOs? Evidence from Pay for CEO Credentials, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, we show that boards’ compensation decisions reward several reputational, career, and educational credentials of CEOs using a panel of S&P 1,500 firms between 1993 and 2005. Our study is motivated […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Executive Compensation | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Insider Trading Developments — Summer 2012

While the insider trading conviction of Rajat Gupta and SEC settlement with Hall of Fame baseball player Eddie Murray attracted headlines — and the 12-year prison sentence imposed earlier this summer on former corporate attorney Matthew Kluger set a new standard for criminal insider trading penalties — there have been several other legislative, regulatory and […]

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Posted in Court Cases, Practitioner Publications, Securities Litigation & Enforcement, Securities Regulation | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Earnings Quality: Evidence from the Field

In the paper, Earnings Quality: Evidence from the Field, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, we provide insights about earnings quality from a new data source: a large survey and a dozen interviews with top financial executives, primarily Chief Financial Officers (CFOs). Why CFOs? While it is clear that there are important consumers […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Accounting & Disclosure | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Financial Stability Through Properly Aligned Incentives

Editor’s Note: Thomas M. Hoenig is director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This post is based on Director Hoenig’s recent remarks before the Exchequer Club, Washington D.C. Introduction In 2011, with significant input from others at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, I proposed that the U.S. financial system be restructured by business […]

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Posted in Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation, Speeches & Testimony | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

How French Law Has Failed to Adapt to the Evolution of the Economy and Finance

In the paper, The Legal System and the Development of Alternative Methods of Financing to Bank Credit… Or How French Law Has Failed to Adapt to the Evolution of the Economy and Finance, which was recently made publicly available on SSRN, I evaluate the French legal system following the strengthening of the “Basel III” prudential […]

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Posted in Academic Research, Banking & Financial Institutions, Financial Regulation | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on How French Law Has Failed to Adapt to the Evolution of the Economy and Finance