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Full-Text Articles in Law
Unacceptable Means: The Inspection Panel Actions On World Bank Forcible Resettlement, Lori Udall
Unacceptable Means: The Inspection Panel Actions On World Bank Forcible Resettlement, Lori Udall
Perspectives
This essay reviews the World Bank’s Inspection Panel’s work on cases involving involuntary resettlement. Since its Inception, the Panel has received 89 requests involving resettlement (over half of all cases) and has investigated 32. It traces Panel cases, lessons learned, and advisory reports on resettlement and livelihood restoration. Despite the growing evidence through the years of resettlement failures, the World Bank continues to violate its own safeguard policies and repeat the same omissions and mistakes in projects. The essay concludes with recommendations for empowering the Inspection Panel and for the Bank to move towards bottom-up community development that better addresses …
Thirty Years Of Accountability In International Development: Insights From The General Counsel Of The World Bank Group, Christopher H. Stephens
Thirty Years Of Accountability In International Development: Insights From The General Counsel Of The World Bank Group, Christopher H. Stephens
Perspectives
The creation of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel in 1993 was a groundbreaking moment in international development. The first accountability mechanism of its kind, it established a precedent for accountability in development that has been followed by multiple development banks and international financial institutions over the last decades. Today, the credibility of international financial institutions rests significantly on the mechanisms that they put in place to check their own behavior and the avenues they offer for affected communities and individuals to raise questions of harm related to the projects financed by these institutions. This essay is a reflection on the …
Imf Human Rights Accountability: A Pragmatic Way To Break The Deadlock, Aldo Caliari
Imf Human Rights Accountability: A Pragmatic Way To Break The Deadlock, Aldo Caliari
Perspectives
In the three decades since the 1993 establishment of the World Bank Inspection Panel, almost all development finance institutions (DFIs) have established analogous panels, ombudsperson offices or other independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) to allow people who believe they have been harmed by the DFI’s activities to directly trigger processes of fact-finding, dispute resolution, and, if applicable, redress. The primary exception has been the International Monetary Fund.
Interest Rates, Venture Capital, And Financial Stability, Hilary J. Allen
Interest Rates, Venture Capital, And Financial Stability, Hilary J. Allen
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
Following several prominent bank failures and as central banks continue to tighten interest rates to fight inflation, there is increasing interest in the relationship between monetary policy and financial stability. This Article illuminates one path through which the prolonged period of low interest rates from 2009-2021 has impacted financial stability: it traces how yield-seeking behavior in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and Covid pandemic led to a bubble in the venture capital industry, which in turn spawned a crypto bubble as well as a run on the VC-favored Silicon Valley Bank. This Article uses this narrative to illustrate …
Regulatory Managerialism Inaction: A Case Study Of Bank Regulation And Climate Change, Hilary J. Allen
Regulatory Managerialism Inaction: A Case Study Of Bank Regulation And Climate Change, Hilary J. Allen
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
In November of 2029, Hurricane Penelope struck New York City as a category two storm. Work had started on a wall to protect Manhattan from rising sea levels and storm surges, but the work was incomplete, and significant damage to Manhattan real estate was sustained. While almost all that real estate was insured, insurance companies were compromised by the sheer magnitude of the losses. Even with significant federal subsidies, they were unable to meet their full commitments on insurance policies. Some commercial real estate firms, who had never really recovered from the shift to remote working during the Covid pandemic, …
Regulatory Innovation And Permission To Fail: The Case Of Suptech, Hilary J. Allen
Regulatory Innovation And Permission To Fail: The Case Of Suptech, Hilary J. Allen
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision West Virginia v. EPA has cast a pall over the discretion of administrative agencies at a very inopportune time. The private sector is currently adopting new technologies at a rapid pace, and as regulated industries become more technologically complex, administrative agencies must innovate technological tools of their own in order to keep up. Agencies will increasingly struggle to do their jobs without that innovation, but the private sector is afforded something that is both critical to the innovation process, and often denied to administrative agencies: “permission to fail.” Without some grace for the inevitable …
Reflections On The Role Of The Panel, Charles Di Leva
Reflections On The Role Of The Panel, Charles Di Leva
Perspectives
Over the past thirty years, the World Bank and the Inspection Panel have had a supportive relationship regarding the principle of accountability, particularly as applied to the field of development finance operations and the role and responsibility of the Bank as a multilateral public sector financial institution. This relationship has been apparent in at least three key aspects: i) following the Bank’s lead, many development institutions around the globe have taken steps to improve their own accountability and developed independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) modeled on the Inspection Panel; ii) the Bank and other development institutions have been supporting the development …
"Use And Improve" Is My Accountability Mantra, Despite 30 Years Of Eye-Opening Disappointments, Natalie Bridgeman Fields
"Use And Improve" Is My Accountability Mantra, Despite 30 Years Of Eye-Opening Disappointments, Natalie Bridgeman Fields
Perspectives
This essay finds justification for championing the continued existence, functioning and evolution of Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs). An inside assessment of the thirty-year functioning of IAMs reveals that inadequate power and independence are severely hampering IAM efforts to hold actors accountable for harm. Simultaneously, IAMs can’t make progress without the underlying financial institutions reforming their incentive structures to reward harm prevention and remedy. Despite decades of systemic failure to deliver accountability, when exceptions happen, they are worth it and can be spectacular. With an influx of new climate-related funding expected at the financial institutions, exceptions need to become the rule. …
Rethinking 'What Counts' As Accountability, Jonathan Fox
Rethinking 'What Counts' As Accountability, Jonathan Fox
Perspectives
The current accountability impasse suggests it may be time to rethink core concepts, as well as the field’s underlying theories of change. The idea of accountability is malleable, ambiguous — and contested. This fuzziness poses challenges for both theory and practice – how do we know what strategies bolster accountability – or whether accountability produces its expected effects? This think piece recognizes the challenge of defining ‘what counts’ as accountability, unpacks a longstanding theory of change - that sunshine is the best disinfectant - and considers some information-based reform initiatives to identify missing links in the causal chain between transparency …
Ending Violence In Development Finance Actions To Affirmatively Prevent And Stop Reprisals Against Rights Defenders, Gregory Berry
Ending Violence In Development Finance Actions To Affirmatively Prevent And Stop Reprisals Against Rights Defenders, Gregory Berry
Perspectives
This Essay makes a case for stronger enforcement and implementation of zero-tolerance policies on reprisals within Development Finance Institutions. It argues that for DFIs to inculcate any hopeful vision of a just and inclusive transition to a sustainable future, they must begin by affirmatively cutting at the roots of reprisals. The essay particularly emphasizes two essential changes. First, Independent Accountability and Audit Mechanisms must be empowered to protect the safety of defenders by self-initiating investigations where there are credible concerns of reprisals, and by accepting anonymously submitted complaints. Second, DFIs must evolve to grow teeth for enforcing measures against retaliatory …
Thirty Years Of Community-Centered Accountability In International Development Key Developments At The World Bank Inspection Panel, Dilek Barlas
Perspectives
Through the lens of important cases, this essay reflects on major developments that occurred at the Panel during the tenure of the author as the Executive Secretary of the World Bank Inspection Panel and shows how the Panel has evolved to improve accessibility, has influenced overall development policies, and has become a catalyst for institutional change. The essay observes that the Panel’s success has largely been due to its structural and operational independence, reporting as it does directly to the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. However, there are challenges facing the Panel on certain issues, including most importantly its independence, …
Three Decades Of Seeking Elusive Remedies, Richard E. Bissell
Three Decades Of Seeking Elusive Remedies, Richard E. Bissell
Perspectives
Remedy is a topic to be approached with some trepidation in the area of accountability. Throughout three decades of proliferating International Accountability Mechanisms ( IAMs), remedy has been the issue least addressed by leadership. Most management and board members find it threatening, wherever a remedial action falls on the spectrum, from an apology for error to financial compensation. The pursuit of remedy builds on the demonstrated existence of harm, which is embarrassing at the least, and brings a focus on consequences and actionable steps for those people whose lives have been damaged as well as for environmental violations. This short …
Beware The Proposed Us Crypto Regulation— It May Be A Trojan Horse, Hilary J. Allen
Beware The Proposed Us Crypto Regulation— It May Be A Trojan Horse, Hilary J. Allen
Popular Media
Following the spectacular failure of crypto exchange FTX International, there have been renewed calls for crypto legislation (including from the industry itself).But many of the proposals so far would be worse than the status quo — at least for the general public. Crypto firms such as FTX were involved in drafting many of the mooted US bills. The exchange’s implosion should not become a pretext for rushing these into law.
Bankruptcy For Banks: A Tribute (And Little Plea) To Jay Westbrook, David A. Skeel Jr.
Bankruptcy For Banks: A Tribute (And Little Plea) To Jay Westbrook, David A. Skeel Jr.
All Faculty Scholarship
In this brief essay, to be included in a book celebrating the work of Jay Westbrook, I begin by surveying Jay’s wide-ranging contributions to bankruptcy scholarship. Jay’s functional analysis has had a profound effect on scholars’ understanding of key issues in domestic bankruptcy law, and Jay has been the leading scholarly figure on cross-border insolvency. After surveying Jay’s influence, I turn to the topic at hand: a proposed reform that would facilitate the use of bankruptcy to resolve the financial distress of large financial institutions. Jay has been a strong critic of this legislation, arguing that financial institutions need to …
How To Help Small Businesses Survive Covid-19, Todd Baker, Kathryn Judge
How To Help Small Businesses Survive Covid-19, Todd Baker, Kathryn Judge
Faculty Scholarship
Small businesses are among the hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. Many are shuttered, and far more face cash flow constraints, raising questions about just how many will survive this recession. The government has responded with a critical forgivable loan program, but for many of these businesses, this program alone will not provide the cash they need to retain workers, pay rent, and help their business come back to life when Americans are no longer sheltering in place. This essay calls on regulators to find new and creative ways to work with existing intermediaries, including banks and online lenders, who …
Corporate Governance Reform In Post-Crisis Financial Firms: Two Fundamental Tensions, Christopher Bruner
Corporate Governance Reform In Post-Crisis Financial Firms: Two Fundamental Tensions, Christopher Bruner
Scholarly Works
The manner in which financial firms are governed directly impacts the stability and sustainability of both the financial sector and the "real" economy, as the financial crisis and associated regulatory reform efforts have tragically demonstrated. However, two fundamental tensions continue to complicate efforts to reform corporate governance in post-crisis financial firms. The first relates to reliance on increased equity capital as a buffer against shocks and a means of limiting leverage. The tension here arises from the fact that no corporate constituency desires risk more than equity does, and that risk preference only tends to be stronger in banks, and …
Too-Big-To-Fail Shareholders, Yesha Yadav
Too-Big-To-Fail Shareholders, Yesha Yadav
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
To build resilience within the financial system, post-Crisis regulation relies heavily on banks to fund themselves more fully by issuing equity. This reserve of value should buttress failing banks by providing a mechanism to pay off creditors and depositors and preserve the health of financial markets. In the process, shareholders are wiped out. Scholars and policymakers, however, have neglected to examine which equity investors, in fact, are purchasing bank equity and taking on the default risk of U.S. banks. This Article addresses this question. First, it shows that five asset managers - BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors, Fidelity and …
Corporate Governance Reform In Post-Crisis Financial Firms: Two Fundamental Tensions, Christopher Bruner
Corporate Governance Reform In Post-Crisis Financial Firms: Two Fundamental Tensions, Christopher Bruner
Scholarly Works
The manner in which financial firms are governed directly impacts the stability and sustainability of both the financial sector and the "real" economy, as the financial crisis and associated regulatory reform efforts have tragically demonstrated. However, two fundamental tensions continue to complicate efforts to reform corporate governance in post-crisis financial firms. The first relates to reliance on increased equity capital as a buffer against shocks and a means of limiting leverage. The tension here arises from the fact that no corporate constituency desires risk more than equity does, and that risk preference only tends to be stronger in banks, and …
The Impossible, Highly Desired Islamic Bank, Haider Ala Hamoudi
The Impossible, Highly Desired Islamic Bank, Haider Ala Hamoudi
Articles
The purpose of this Article is to explore, and explain the stubborn persistence of, a central paradox that is endemic to the retail Islamic bank as it operates in the United States. The paradox is that retail Islamic banking in the United States is impossible, and yet it remains highly desired. It is impossible because the principles that are supposed to underlie the practice of Islamic finance deal with the trading of assets and the equitable sharing of risks, profits and losses among bank, depositor and portfolio investment. It is true that much of this can be, and is, circumvented …
Conceptions Of Corporate Purpose In Post-Crisis Financial Firms, Christopher M. Bruner
Conceptions Of Corporate Purpose In Post-Crisis Financial Firms, Christopher M. Bruner
Scholarly Articles
American "populism" has had a major impact on the development of U.S. corporate governance throughout its history. Specifically, appeals to the perceived interests of average working people have exerted enormous social and political influence over prevailing conceptions of corporate purpose - the aims toward which society expects corporate decision-making to be directed. This article assesses the impact of American populism upon prevailing conceptions of corporate purpose - contrasting its unique expression in the context of financial firms with that arising in other contexts - and then examines its impact upon corporate governance reforms enacted in the wake of the financial …
The New Investor, Tom C. W. Lin
The New Investor, Tom C. W. Lin
UF Law Faculty Publications
A sea change is happening in finance. Machines appear to be on the rise and humans on the decline. Human endeavors have become unmanned endeavors. Human thought and human deliberation have been replaced by computerized analysis and mathematical models. Technological advances have made finance faster, larger, more global, more interconnected, and less human. Modern finance is becoming an industry in which the main players are no longer entirely human. Instead, the key players are now cyborgs: part machine, part human. Modern finance is transforming into what this Article calls cyborg finance.
This Article offers one of the first broad, descriptive, …
Reconsidering The Separation Of Banking And Commerce, Mehrsa Baradaran
Reconsidering The Separation Of Banking And Commerce, Mehrsa Baradaran
Scholarly Works
This Article examines the long-held belief that banking and commerce need to be kept separate to ensure a stable banking system. Specifically, the Article criticizes the Bank Holding Company Act (“BHCA”), which prohibits nonbanking entities from owning banks. The recent banking collapse has caused and exacerbated several problematic trends in U.S. banking, especially the conglomeration of banking entities and the homogenization of assets. The inflexible and outdated provisions of the BHCA are a major cause of these trends. Since the enactment of the BHCA, the landscape of U.S. banking has changed dramatically, but the strict separation of banking and commerce …
Synergy And Friction – Cra, Bhcs, Sba And Community Development Lending, Cassandra Jones Havard
Synergy And Friction – Cra, Bhcs, Sba And Community Development Lending, Cassandra Jones Havard
All Faculty Scholarship
The era of federal funding retrenchment makes acute the need for community businesses to have access to capital. The Small Business Administration (SBA) provides small businesses with access to low-cost loans funds. The existing SBA regulatory scheme fosters an approach which allows a private mechanism, lenders, to make public policy decisions about the socio-economic character of communities. Implicit in the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and its recent reforms are a recognition of the complex interdependence among policy objectives. The reform statute specifically recognizes that geographical disinvestment has an equally deleterious effect on small business lending as it does on residential …
8th Annual Seminar On Legal Issues For Financial Institutions, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, M. Brooke Senn, Keith G. Hanley, R. David Lester, David C. Pottinger, John T. Mcgarvey, Gary L. Stewart, Merrit S. Dietz, Phillip H. Schwartz, Helen Davis Chaitman, Neal L. Wolf
8th Annual Seminar On Legal Issues For Financial Institutions, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, M. Brooke Senn, Keith G. Hanley, R. David Lester, David C. Pottinger, John T. Mcgarvey, Gary L. Stewart, Merrit S. Dietz, Phillip H. Schwartz, Helen Davis Chaitman, Neal L. Wolf
Continuing Legal Education Materials
Outline of speakers' presentations from the 8th Annual Seminar on Legal Issues for Financial Institutions held by UK/CLE on March 11-12, 1988.