At a time of unprecedented volatility on financial markets and far-reaching change within the banking and insurance sector, the latest issue of How Countries Supervise their Banks, Insurers and Securities Markets - published in January 2008 - is an invaluable guide to this fast-changing world.

With the UK’s Northern Rock crisis leading many to question the effectiveness of the tripartite regulatory system and of the UK’s much-vaunted principles-led regulation, this directory provides full contact details for bank, insurance and securities regulators around the world.

Exclusive tables provide at-a-glance information about when key national regulatory bodies were first established, details about the institutional separation of regulators around the world and our unique list of unified financial regulators.

Regulators and practitioners are legally obliged to understand how the world' s financial regulatory authorities regulate financial firms. Yet counterparties can operate from any one of almost two hundred jurisdictions.

Ensuring adequate understanding becomes doubly difficult when regulatory responsibilities and critical legislation change each year.

How Countries Supervise their Banks, Insurers and Securities Markets 2008 offers a solution to this dilemma. It shows how financial institutions are supervised in all 196 jurisdictions. This completely updated edition offers readers:

The facts...fast
For all the leading financial centres, a concise introduction gives overview of the whole regulatory system.

Anti money laundering
For each regulator, the directory lists the lead contact for AML compliance.

Key statistics
Staffing levels, budgets, number and type of institutions supervised.

Expanded international coverage
The 2008 edition now includes details to the key authorities in hard-to-contact jurisdictions such as Afghanistan ; Iran ; Kosovo; Libya ; Puerto Rico ;
Qatar ; Syria ... and many more.



Benefits for users

• Find out fast who regulates which firms in over 190 jurisdictions: for each of the 190+ jurisdictions the directory profiles the 500+ agencies responsible for regulating banks, insurance companies and securities firms;
  
• Identify which types of firms are licensed: in addition, the directory lists in detail which kinds of firms are licensed by the ï¤ different regulatory agencies
  
• Find information on individual firms: Increasingly, regulatory authorities publish a register of regulated firms. The 2008 edition includes details of how to access these registers, allowing you to find information about authorised institutions in minutes not hours;
  
• Make contact with key individuals: the 2008 edition lists contact details for over 2,300 senior regulatory staff around the world, enabling you to quickly identify and make contact with the relevant individuals in any one of hundreds of agencies;
  
• Understand quickly legal mandates and responsibilities; the powers, responsibilities and functions of each agency are profiled concisely to allow you to quickly understand their work;
  
• Keep up-to-date with important changes: because our researchers contact all of the profiled agencies every year. You will find in the 2008 edition up-to-date information about important regulatory changes all around the world. All available at your fingertips in a single volume.

Croatia

Israel

Korea