International Banking Law

This is the first major casebook devoted to international banking law. It examines cutting edge legal and regulatory developments in international banking law, as focused through the business and structural means by which banks conduct international activities—the business of international banking.

In doing so, the book highlights the fact that, as international banking has grown and increasingly plays a key role in the international economy, so have practical and policy concerns arisen that have caused an increasing need and support for international banking laws and regulation. The book presents the practical aspects of legal issues that arise in the most common international banking transactions, including the legal role of international banks in letters of credit transactions, international loan syndications and international deposit transactions—so called "ringfencing" of deposits.

In so doing, the book seeks to engage the student to understand the respective roles, responsibilities and liabilities of banks associated with these transactions, and the related regulatory concerns reflected in banking laws, regulations and policies. This book also explores international banking regulation, including an analysis of the international principles of bank supervision and the evolving work and influence of the Basel Committee on Bank Regulation and Supervision and regulation of U.S. banks in foreign markets. Significantly, it examines critical international banking legal issues and policies in the context of the recent global financial crisis, government "bailouts" and global financial regulatory reform initiatives responding to the crisis, the causes of the global financial crisis, government reactions and perceived weaknesses in the international financial regulatory system, and regulatory reform covering the Dodd-Frank Act, G-10 and Basel Committee reform initiatives. The book also examines the regulation of foreign banking organizations in the U.S. under the Federal Reserve Board's Regulation K and International Banking Act, Foreign Bank Supervision and Enhancement Act and related laws and regulations. Also, the book analyzes current legal and regulatory developments in anti-terrorism, money laundering, and embargo laws as relates to international banking operations. Finally, the book covers the "single rulebook" banking regulation of the European Monetary Union—the first transnational regulation of international banking. The book also presents emerging ethical considerations in international banking law practice, and the implications of relevant ethical guidance by the American Bar Association and the International Bar Association.