A single unified supervisory authority for financial services in Malta and beyond – some legal and regulatory issues

Abstract

During this past decade, many countries have addressed the question of how their financial services sector should be regulated. The UK has seen the creation of the Financial Services Authority and the demise of the self-regulatory system formerly organized under the Financial Services Act of 1986. In the wake of the recent Parmalat and Fazio scandals, Italy toyed with the notion of creating a "Super-Consob" and the curtailing of some of Banca D'Italia's functions. In these past few years, single regulatory structures have been established in several countries in and outside the European Union. These have included Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Mauritius, and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Other countries or jurisdictions have been busy re-considering or reforming their regulatory arrangements.