ABSTRACT
Private sector governance plays a key but complex and varied role in global finance, as in global economic governance more generally. It encompasses a range of activities that include best practices, codes of conduct, model contracts, professional designations, formal standard setting bodies, adjudication mechanisms, risk management technologies, computer codes in electronic systems, strategic road-mapping projects and many other such mechanisms, which influence both macro- and micro-level financial activities. Private forms of governance interact with public regulation in complex ways—competing with it in some cases and reinforcing it in others. Some forms, like the New York Stock Exchange or Lloyd’s of London, have centuries-long histories displaying impressive resilience and adaptation; while others, such as the new procedures for determining payments of credit default swaps, have only been created since the 2007–08 crisis. Some mechanisms, like the International Accounting Standards Board’s accounting standards, are global in their intended scope, while others focus specifically on a single region or financial activity.
