Private International Law-Making for the Financial Markets

This Article argues that transnational financial transactions create new opportunities for private groups to influence legal and regulatory rules. Internationalization of the financial markets has led to harmonization of financial law. Much harmonization of financial law occurs through processes that are apparently public, state-centered, and transparent, but this Article describes three ways in which private and opaque processes have a significant influence on policy development in the area of financial law. These are private international law-making through private involvement in public rule-making processes, through contracting, and through the actions of private sector regulatory entrepreneurs.