BOOK REVIEWS
| Published date | 01 February 1996 |
| Date | 01 February 1996 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb024883 |
| Pages | 196-198 |
| Author | Joanna Gray |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance |
BOOK REVIEWS
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKET REGULATION
Steil (editor)
JOHN WILEY & SONS, CHICHESTER, 1994; 0-471-94401-7; HARDBACK; £29.95
REGULATION, DEREGULATION, REREGULATION: THE FUTURE OF
THE BANKING, INSURANCE AND SECURITIES INDUSTRIES
Alan Gart
JOHN WILEY & SONS, CHICHESTER, 1994; 0-471-58052-X; HARDBACK; £45.95
Regulation and compliance profes-
sionals and students of regulation will
find these books interesting and
thought provoking. Although many a
reader would be justifiably sceptical
about a book with 'The Future of. . .'
in its title Alan Gait's work contains
so much valuable historical detail
about US banking, insurance and
securities regulation that it manages
to avoid being just another journal-
istic work of financial punditry. It is
an ambitious book and raises some
very big questions in the introduc-
tion. Was regulation of financial mar-
kets and institutions called for in the
1930s? Was deregulation of financial
markets and institutions called for in
the 1970s and 1980s? Is reregulation
of financial institutions called for in
the 1990s? What changes in regula-
tion and financial structure are likely
to take place by the year 2000? It
seeks to answer these and many
(almost too many) other questions by
casting a historical perspective on
each of the three industries, examin-
ing issues like structural change, the
impact of technology and the future
of all of the major players within the
financial services industry and asking
what they bode for the future of
regulation. For those prepared to
read all 386 pages it is a mine of
information and, to a lesser degree,
insights providing an excellent over-
view of the past, present and possible
future US regulatory scene. However,
the book has been written with the
busy professional in mind who may
be interested only in one of the three
industries covered and so it has been
designed to be read as a handbook
into which one can dip and read
only, say, the banking chapters, this
automatically detracts from the
book's ability to provide a sustained
and layered intellectual analysis of
some of the big questions asked in
the introduction and leaves the
reader with the impression of a
descriptive account. Subject to that
caveat the reader who wishes to
deepen their knowledge of the US
196
To continue reading
Request your trial