A group of more than 20 European experts on financial regulation, including high-level academics, regulators, supervisors, lawyers and executives involved in the financial industry, visited New York for a special conference. This event allowed them to become more familiar with the U.S. financial regulation system, including anti-money laundering/counter-terrorist financing requirements, and to have discussions with American counterparts and colleagues.
Organized jointly by the Laboratory of Excellence for Financial Regulation (LabEx ReFi) and Stony Brook University, part of the State University of New York (SUNY), the first summer school on a Comparative of U.S. and European Financial Regulations took place in Manhattan from September 7-9, 2016. It was followed by the first Conference on Quantitative Methods for Financial Regulation, which took place at Stony Brook's main campus in Long Island on September 10-11.
The program was divided into sessions devoted to topics covering all aspects of financial regulation. Highlights of the first session on the regulatory framework included a talk by Professor Christian de Boissieu of the Paris-Sorbonne University about the unification of European markets and its international consequences, as well as a presentation by Jonathan Halpern, a former U.S. federal prosecutor, and François-Gilles Le Theule, executive director of LabEx ReFi, about the decision-making process in reforming financial regulation. The theme of the second session was Basel III and prudential rules. Professor Pierre-Charles Pradier of the Paris-Sorbonne University presented an in-depth comparison of the U.S. and EU insurance regulatory system.
The session on financial supervision and enforcement featured many experienced speakers. Nicolas Dorgeret of the Economic Committee of the European Parliament gave an overview of the EU agenda on financial services. Michel Perez, CAMS, representative of LabEx ReFi in the U.S. explained the mechanism known as Deferred Prosecution Agreement in America and equivalent systems in Europe. Professor Alain Pietrancosta and Robert Stern of Orrick explained the current state of U.S. and EU regulation and legislation about insider trading. During the session about accounting principles and norms, Professor Jonathan Glover of Columbia University described the ongoing "arms race" between accounting standard-setters and preparers and Professor Gerard Hertig of ETH Zurich emphasized the need for information exchange among supervisory authorities to monitor financial flows to and from tax havens. In other sessions Elizabeth MacCaul, partner-in-charge of Promontory Financial Group and Patrick Simonnet, director and head of audit at Credit Suisse outlined the growing demands from regulators on financial institutions and Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani, general manager of the French Banks Federation, explained the challenges posed to global banking and the need for coordinated domestic and international supervision.
The proceedings concluded with a round table featuring some of the most preeminent speakers. The working program of the summer school ended with a reception at the French consulate during which H.E. Anne Claire Legendre, consul general, assisted Dean Fotis Sotiropoulos of Stony Brook University and Professor Raphael Douady, academic director of LabEx and supervisor of the conference, in awarding certificates of recognition to the most deserving participants. The New York conference proved that in-depth discussions and exchanges among specialists and practitioners on both sides of the Atlantic are indispensable to build trust and to lead a more efficient financial regulation framework for the benefit of all parties.
LabEx ReFi regroups academics from four top French universities (ESCP Europe, CNAM, l'ENA and Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne) and European regulators involved in topics related to financial regulation. LabEx ReFi also partnered with ACAMS in Paris on April 5, 2016. There were about 200 participants at the joint conference on Combating the Financing of Terrorism. As ACAMS extends its activities in Europe and LabEx ReFi plans to increase its presence in America, new opportunities of cooperation will be considered and are expected to materialize in 2017.
