Harvard Law School Professor Hal Scott has been named co-chair of the newly-organized Council on Global Financial Regulation. The Council was formed by a group of private sector international financial leaders to provide national and international policymakers with independent recommendations from outside government for effective regulation of the global financial system, particularly regulation with significant cross-border implications.

“The worldwide financial crisis demonstrates that sound financial regulation must be achieved through international cooperation,” said Co-Chair Michael Prada, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC). “Recognizing this, government leaders have called for a greater role for the G-20 and other international government bodies, such as the Financial Stability Board, to encourage a better coordinated international financial regulatory system. The Council on Global Financial Regulation will play a constructive role in supporting that process by providing government policymakers and regulators with independent recommendations, research, analysis and commentary.”

“The Council will also be available for consultation with government officials as a resource on cross-border financial regulatory issues,” said Scott. “We have before us an historic opportunity for meaningful action on global financial reform.”

Council organizers say that although there have been important improvements in international regulatory cooperation and coordination over the past two years, there remain pressures toward divergence from coordination, tendencies toward unilateral assertion of regulatory proposals with cross-border implications, and new risks of regulatory arbitrage among jurisdictions. The initial focus of the Council’s work will be on pragmatic ways to enhance international direction and coordination of global financial regulation.

The Council expects to issue its initial report mid-year 2010.

Composed of 15 private sector experts in the field of financial regulation, the Council membership is broadly international, representing 11 different nationalities. In addition to Co-Chairs Scott and Prada, the members include:

  • Hugo Bänziger, Member of the Board and Chief Risk Officer, Deutsche Bank Group;
  • Roel C. Campos, Partner in Charge, Cooley Godward Kronish LLP and Former Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission;
  • Massimo Capuano, President and CEO, Borsa Italiana; Deputy CEO, London Stock Exchange Group;
  • Sir Howard Davies, Director, London School of Economics;
  • R. Glenn Hubbard, Dean & Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics, Columbia Business School; Co-Chair, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation;
  • MA Weihua, President, China Merchants Bank;
  • Guillermo Ortiz Martínez, Former Governor, Banco de México; Former Chairman BIS; Former Minister of Finance;
  • Andrew Sheng, Chief Advisor, China Bank Regulatory Commission; Former Chairman, Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission;
  • Heizo Takenaka, Professor & Director, Global Security Research Institute, Keio University;
  • Gordon Thiessen, Former Governor, Bank of Canada;
  • John L. Thornton, Chairman, The Brookings Institution; Co-Chair, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation;
  • Olin Wethington, Chairman, Wethington International, LLC; Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Treasury; and
  • Peter Wuffli, Former President & CEO, UBS.

Scott is the Nomura Professor and director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School. He is an expert on capital markets regulation, international finance, the payment system, and securities regulation.