Law Commons^™

Although banking has gone global, banking regulation is still primarily local. A large money center bank in New York is just as likely to do business with an Austrian bank as one headquartered in California. However, even though each of the New York and Austrian banks engages in business banking, their chartering and regulations are still controlled by their local regulators. A failure to appreciate the differences between a bank chartered and regulated by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency versus the Austrian Financial Market Authority can result in misunderstandings, lost business and perhaps civil or criminal …

To understand today's payment, clearing and settlement systems, we must be aware that these arrangements rely to some extent upon financial and operational technologies that were developed in other times and circumstances.

ISDA Master Agreement negotiations are notoriously difficult and lengthy. Traders and marketers wring their hands in frustration at the inexplicable difficulty of putting into place standardized ISDA documentation, watching profitable opportunities to trade disappear.