Standardisation + Finance
Our research focuses on the regulatory and governance issues associated with privately developed transactional and non-transactional standardization in banking, finance, and payments.
Standards in banking, finance, and payments take many different forms. Perhaps the most important form of standardization in these areas is privately developed transactional standardization. That form of standardization focuses on standardization of financial products. Financial products are, in essence, financial contracts. Several prominent standard development organizations (SDOs), such ISDA, ICMA, LMA, LSTA and others are very active in developing standardized financial contracts and contract terms. Beyond the standardization of legal terms, SDOs also work on developing standards for certain economic terms. Indices or benchmarks are good examples of economic terms in contracts that tend to be standardized. FTSE Russell, MSCI and S&P are among the most important developers of indices used in financial markets. Other forms of privately developed non-transactional standards, include financial reporting, risk management, sustainability, or technological standards.
Relevant publications include
- Delimatsis, P. (2021, forthcoming). Sustainable Finance. In P. Delimatsis and L. Reins (Eds.), Trade and Environmental Law, Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law Series, Edward Elgar. Available at SSRN.
- Borowicz, M. K. (2021, forthcoming). The Mechanisms of Loan Market Efficiency. Review of Banking and Financial Law (Fall 2021). Available as TILEC Discussion Paper No. DP2021-008. SSRN.
- Borowicz, M. K. (2021). Contracts as Regulation: the ISDA Master Agreement. Capital Markets Law Journal, 16(1), 72-94.