Financial Law and Regulation

Convenor: Professor Giuliano G. Castellano

Professor Giuliano Castellano’s research and teaching interests are in the areas of regulatory governance, international financial law and compliance with focus on securities, banking and insurance regulation. He has published in renowned scholarly journals, such as the Modern Law Review, Law & Contemporary Problems, and Hastings Law Journal. He has been leading research projects that received support from competitive grant schemes in different jurisdictions, such as the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the HK University Grants Committee. Beyond academia, Dr Castellano collaborates with international organisations and domestic policymakers to implement legal and regulatory reforms to support and inclusive and sound access to finance.

Financial law and regulation has been one of AIIFL’s core research areas since its establishment and remains one of its flagship areas of activity. Given Hong Kong’s position as one of the leading international financial centres, financial law and regulation are central areas of interest to researchers, professionals, policymakers, and students. This is reflected not only in the breadth of research theme covered by AIIFL Fellows, it is also apparent from the support that AIIFL provides to the Faculty of Law’s leading LLMs programmes, in Corporate and Financial Law and in Compliance and Regulation.

Since its establishment, AIIFL has striven to maintain its research activities at the cutting edge of issues relating to financial law and regulation in the domestic, regional, and global contexts. These have taken the form of a number of major research projects supported by competitive grants, internationally recognised publications, an ever-increasing list of events and activities as well as a constant engagement in relevant policy discourses both locally and internationally.

Major areas of research include:

  • Enhancing Hong Kong’s Future as a Leading International Financial Centre
  • FinTech and RegTech
  • Financial Crises and Systemic Risk
  • Legal and Regulatory Reforms for the Development of Credit, Capital, and Insurance Markets
  • Financial Liberalisation and Regulatory Reforms in China
  • The Political Economy of International Financial Regulation and Supervision
  • Recovery, Resolution, and Insolvency of Financial Institutions
  • Regulatory Compliance: Culture, Ethics and Business Conduct
  • Global Capital Markets
  • Sovereign Debt and Debt Restructuring
  • Securitisation, Derivatives and Structured Finance

In a fast-changing world where new socio-economic dynamics and unprecedented challenges are poised to disrupt the status quo, AIIFL will continue to promote innovative thinking to tackle major issues affecting the global financial system and its regulatory governance. AIIFL activities and research are disseminated through events, conducted virtually and/or in-person to ensure the broadest outreach and a lasting footprint.

News

10 years after Lehman: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Asia’s First FinTech Online Course

Asia’s First Interdisciplinary FinTech Professional Certificate Program

International Collaboration of Law Experts from Three Continents towards Global FinTech and RegTech Research

Events

HKU FinTech MOOC Meetup – Hong Kong Edition (25 March 2019)

Digital Financial Transformation: Finance, Technology and Regulation (22 November 2018) 

Douglas W. Arner, Kerry Holdings Professor in Law, Faculty of Law, HKU

HKU FinTech Day 2020

HKU FinTech Day 2019

HKU FinTech Day 2018

HKU FinTech Day 2017

Publications

AIIFL Working Paper: RegTech and the Future of Financial Regulation

Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation

Financial Markets in Hong Kong (Second Edition)

Major areas of research include:

– Enhancing Hong Kong’s Future as a Leading International Financial Centre
– FinTech and RegTech- Debt capital markets development
– Financial liberalisation and restructuring in China
– International financial services regulation
– Financial crises and financial institution insolvency

Over time, AIIFL has held/produced a substantial number of conferences and books on related subjects including:

Douglas W. Arner, Wai Yee Wan, Andrew Godwin, Wei Shen, and Evan Gibson (eds.) Research Handbook on Asian Financial Law (Edward Elgar, 2020);

Janos Barberis, Douglas W. Arner and Ross P. Buckley (eds.) The RegTech Book (Wiley, 2019);

Douglas Arner, Berry Hsu, Say Goo, Syren Johnstone and Paul Lejot, Financial Markets in Hong Kong: Law and Practice (Oxford University Press, 2d ed., 2016;

Ross P. Buckley, Emilios Avgouleas and Douglas Arner (eds.), Reconceptualising Global Finance and its Regulation (Cambridge University Press, 2016);

Qiao Liu, Paul Lejot and Douglas Arner, Finance in Asia: Institutions, Regulation and Policy (Routledge 2013);

Qiao Liu, Paul Lejot and Douglas Arner (eds.), Finance in Asia: A Collection of Major Works (Abingdon: Routledge 2013) (4 vols);

Ross Buckley and Douglas Arner, From Crisis to Crisis: The Global Financial System and Regulatory Failure (Kluwer 2011);

Ross Buckley, Richard Hu and Douglas Arner (eds.), East Asian Economic Integration: Law, Trade and Finance (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar 2011);

Douglas Arner, Financial Stability, Economic Growth and the Role of Law (Cambridge University Press 2007);

Frederik Pretorius, Paul Lejot, Arthur McInnis, Douglas Arner and Berry Hsu, Project Finance for Construction and Infrastructure: Principles and Case Studies (Blackwell 2007);

Berry Hsu, Douglas Arner, Maurice Tse and Syren Johnstone, Financial Markets in Hong Kong: Law and Practice (Oxford University Press 2006);

James Barth, Zhongfei Zhou, Douglas Arner, Berry Hsu and Wei Wang (eds.), Financial Restructuring and Reform in Post-WTO China (Kluwer 2006);

Douglas Arner, Jae-Ha Park, Paul Lejot and Qia Liu (eds.), Asia’s Debt Capital Markets: Prospects and Strategies for Development (Springer 2006);

Douglas Arner and Jan-juy Lin (eds.), Financial Regulation – A Guide to Structural Reform (Sweet & Maxwell 2003);

Say Goo, Douglas Arner and Zhongfei Zhou (eds.), International Financial Sector Reform: Standard Setting and Infrastructure Development (Kluwer 2002);

Douglas Arner, Mamiko Yokoi-Arai and Zhongfei Zhou (eds.), Financial Crises in the 1990s: A Global Perspective (British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2001).