Mondialisation, marchés monétaires et institutions financières
Mondialisation et contrôle prudentiel : centralisation ou décentralisation ?
Jean-Victor Louis
Prudential supervision is dealt with here as a matter of both regulation and control on a
global or a regional level of the international activities of the various financial « indus~tries ». While an analysis of the underlying rationale of prudential supervision is not
within the ambit of the report, the risks resulting from the structure of international
financial marks, both systemic and for the « consumers » are briefly explained as a matter
of introducing into a field of law which is characterized by a puzzling array of institutions
and arrangements. These are then examined in more detail in two sections, one devoted
to the global level of regulation of financial markets, the other to the particular structure
of the « Eurosystem ». With respect to the former, the examination starts with a
presentations of the complex, multi-organic and largely informal « international financial
architecture », before it enters into an evaluation of its merits and limits. In this regard,
the problems of legitimacy and representativity of the regulatory mechanisms, of the
distribution of authority within the regulatory system and of the legal nature of the mostly
non-mandatory, but indirectly binding regulatory rules and the prospects of enhancing
their effect, are successively analysed. In addition, future developments of the overall
architecture of the system are discussed, in particular the controversy about instituting a
« lender of last resort », and the role of the private sector.
With respect to the Eurosystem the report outlines, first, its organisational structure as
provided for in the EC-Treaty and in the statutes of the ECBS as well as the forms of
cooperation characterising the network of European and national authorities. The report
then discusses the issues related to establishing a « lender of last resort » or a substitute
for it. The subsequent evaluation of the existing system stresses the specific risks resulting
from the high degree of concentration of banking markets in Europe, and of reliance on
« national champions » before presenting a broad examination of the European
controversy on centralisation of prudential supervision, and of the propositions made to
enhance the effectiveness of the system. The report concludes on a cautionary tone of
suggesting prudent approaches to prudential supervision and of insisting on the necessity
to equally care for the democratic accountability of the institutions of the developing
Eurosystem.
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Le marché financier et sa réglementation au plan universel
— 2.1 L’architecture du système financier international
— 2.2 Évaluation des mérites et des limites de la réglementation
• 3 Le contrôle prudentiel dans l'eurosystème
— 3.1 Le réseau de coopération
— 3.2 La problématique du prêteur en dernier ressort
— 3.3 Évaluation du contrôle prudentiel décentralisé
de l’Eurosystème
• 4 Réflexions finales