A Wall Around Europe? The European Regulatory Response to the Global Financial Crisis and the Turn in Transatlantic Relations

Abstract

This article explores the impact of the European regulatory response to the global financial crisis in the governance of transatlantic financial markets. The main argument is that European regulatory initiatives have sought to expand European regulatory clout over market actors domiciled in third countries but operating in European markets, thus departing from the authority-sharing arrangements that had informed the construction of an integrated transatlantic market for financial services in the period preceding the crisis. The article will explain this shift in the European approach towards the regulation of transatlantic markets by exploring the reconfiguration of EU financial regulatory politics triggered by the financial crisis. This argument will be developed by analysing the regulatory frameworks introduced in the EU to regulate OTC derivatives, rating agencies, and hedge funds.

Key words:

• financial regulation
• transatlantic relations
• derivatives
• rating agencies
• hedge funds

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to John Andrews, Eric Helleiner, Patrick Leblond, Elliot Posner, Leonard Seabrooke, and the anonymous reviewers for their extremely valuable suggestions.