Guardians of Finance: Making Regulators Work for Us

Abstract

This book is about the role played by the Guardians of Finance—the major financial regulatory institutions—in aiding and abetting the global financial crisis. During the ten to fifteen years during which this crisis was brewing, what were such “Guardians” as the Federal Reserve, SecuritiesPreface ix and Exchange Commission, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in the United States doing? What about financial regulators in other countries? Did the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom, the Irish Financial Regulator, the Financial Supervisory Authority in Iceland, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions in Canada, and regulators in many other countries encourage or discourage the excessive risk-taking associated with the economic devastation through which millions of individuals are suffering? In the most recent crisis, and in earlier crises, governments have usually responded by adding more regulations and more regulators. Given that the severity of crises has been growing over time, isn’t it time to reconsider the fundamentals—the core institutions associated with financial regulation?