The Globalization of Securities Markets

The globalization of securities markets has presented special challenges for those charged with preserving the integrity of the markets and for those to whom the integrity of the markets is essential. The role that international law will play in the process in the 1990s is 2-fold. First, international law will ensure that responsible international traders will have the opportunity to compete in national markets. The financial services negotiations of the Uruguay Round of GATT are an example of work that is already under way. Second, international law will play a critical role in harmonizing or equalizing regulatory requirements between and among jurisdictions in order to ensure the integrity of markets, to diminish the chances that businesses will move from one jurisdiction to another to escape sound prudential regulation, and finally to reduce the costs of international securities transactions.