Payment services are, at their simplest, services for moving money around the economy. These services carry risks for the provider and the customer, from credit and insolvency risk, through to fraud and ‘mere’ errors. Different societies deal with, manage and allocate these risks...

Bitcoin has been described as a decentralised virtual currency. Virtual currencies, such as bitcoins, are a form of money and a payment system. However, being a decentralised system, there is no central issuer, authority or register-keeper. Bitcoin is unique, not because it is a virtual...

Financial services regulation is becoming increasingly globalised in response to the global nature of the industry. Firms, including hedge funds, are highly mobile. Each regulator must take into account global regulatory standards – if local regulation is below or above the international...

Financial services regulation is becoming increasingly globalised in response to the global nature of the industry. Firms, including hedge funds, are highly mobile. Each regulator must take into account global regulatory standards – if local regulation is below or above the international...

While today's financial markets are globally interconnected, they are regulated at a national level. This article discusses the international financial system and its recent difficulties, current international regulatory measures, how a global regulator might be established and some of the...

The previous article considered the history of international payments, and their current role and scope. It described a number of common retail, wholesale and institutional payment systems and introduced their legal structure. It went on to examine the inter-bank infrastructure supporting the...

In many ways, international payments are similar to domestic payments. They involve a payer using the services of one or more intermediaries to transfer value to a payee. However, they tend to involve a number of additional complexities as a result of the distance between the parties, the...

Bitcoin has been described as a decentralised virtual currency. Virtual currencies such as Bitcoins are a form of money and a payment system. However, being a decentralised system, there is no central issuer, authority or register-keeper. Bitcoin is unique not because it is a virtual currency,...