The FinReg Pod

Barbara Haya directs the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. Barbara joins Lee to explain what carbon offsets are and the considerations that must be addressed to ensure that offset credits entering into commerce reflect real, verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, Barbara details why most offset programs issue more credits than they should, and recent policy efforts to bring greater integrity to the voluntary offset market.   Barbara’s Twitter: @Barbara_Haya GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners   Related Links:   *POLICY BRIEF: The California Air Resources Board’s U.S. Forest offset protocol underestimates leakage* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/policy-brief-arbas-us-forest-projects-offset-protocol-underestimates-leaka   * Measuring Emissions Against an Alternative Future: Fundamental Flaws in the Structure of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/measuring-emissions-against-an-alternative-future-fundamental-flaws-in-the- Barbara Haya directs the Berkeley Carbon Trading Project. Barbara joins Lee to explain what carbon offsets are and the considerations that must be addressed to ensure that offset credits entering into commerce reflect real, verifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, Barbara details why most offset programs issue more credits than they should, and recent policy efforts to bring greater integrity to the voluntary offset market.   Barbara’s Twitter: @Barbara_Haya GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners   Related Links:   *POLICY BRIEF: The California Air Resources Board’s U.S. Forest offset protocol underestimates leakage* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/policy-brief-arbas-us-forest-projects-offset-protocol-underestimates-leaka   * Measuring Emissions Against an Alternative Future: Fundamental Flaws in the Structure of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism* by Barbara Haya https://gspp.berkeley.edu/faculty-and-impact/working-papers/measuring-emissions-against-an-alternative-future-fundamental-flaws-in-the-

Jeremy Kress is Assistant Professor of Business Law at Michigan Ross and Co-Faculty Director of the University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law & Policy. Jeremy joins Lee to discuss how policymakers’ long-standing approach to bank antitrust—premised on consumer welfare—has reduced the cost and availability of basic financial services and ignores numerous non-price harms stemming from bank consolidation. Jeremy details how the Chicago school of antitrust and its focus on consumer welfare came to dominate bank merger review, the impact of fintech on bank competition, and recent policy actions that foreshadow a more stringent review of bank mergers going forward. Jeremy’s Twitter: @Jeremy_Kress GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners   Related Links:   * Modernizing Bank Merger Review* by Jeremy Kress https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3440914     * Reviving Bank Antitrust * by Jeremy Kress https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4039197     * Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/07/09/executive-order-on-promoting-competition-in-the-american-economy/     * Antitrust Division Seeks Additional Public Comments on Bank Merger Competitive Analysis* U.S. Department of Justice https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/antitrust-division-seeks-additional-public-comments-bank-merger-competitive-analysis     * Request for Public Comment on the Bank Merger Act* Joint Statement of Martin J. Gruenberg and Rohit Chopra, Members, FDIC Board of Directors https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_bank-merger-act-rfi_joint-statement_2021-12.pdf

Mike Bloomberg is the Public Infrastructure Fellow at the NewCities Foundation and a Visiting Researcher with the Urban Tech Hub at Cornell Tech. In this episode, he examines the dark side of U.S. cities embracing cryptocurrency. Mike and Lee discuss how MiamiCoin and NYC Coin actually work, the nebulous legal relationship between these coins and the cities of Miami and New York, and why anyone would bother purchasing or mining these coins. They also discuss the legal and regulatory risks mayors are taking on by embracing crypto.     Mike’s Twitter: @BloombergME GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners   Related Links:   CityCoins Website: https://www.citycoins.co/ *Money for nothing: Cities’ crypto push draws fans, critics* Associated Press: https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-new-york-miami-coin-f076e0e8b80adf74fdeebaeae9188e70

Jay Brown and Kathleen Hamm are former board members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB. Jay and Kathleen join Lee to discuss the origins of the PCAOB and the ongoing challenges the agency faces. Specifically, they discuss the role of auditors in overseeing non-financial reporting such as ESG disclosure, the difficulty in getting US-listed Chinese companies to comply with American auditing standards, and whether PCAOB standards adequately reflect the risks of a cyber incident at issuers or at the auditors themselves.   Jay’s Profile: https://www.law.du.edu/about/people/j-robert-brown-jr   Kathleen’s Profile: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Hamm GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners

On January 20th, the Federal Reserve released a discussion paper that examines the pros and cons of a potential U.S. central bank digital currency, or CBDC. In this episode, Marcelo Prates joins Lee to breakdown the paper’s findings and the future of CBDCs in the U.S. and elsewhere. Marcelo is a lawyer at the Central Bank of Brazil and a columnist at cryptocurrency news site, Coindesk.   Marcelo’s Twitter: @MarceloMPrates   Related Links: *Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation*, the Federal Reserve Board. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/money-and-payments-discussion-paper.htm   *No Reason to Fear Central Bank Digital Currencies* by Marcelo Prates https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2021/05/17/no-reason-to-fear-central-bank-digital-currencies/ * Legal troubles may delay CBDCs*  by Marcelo Prates https://www.omfif.org/2021/02/legal-troubles-may-delay-cbdcs/   *CBDC: A Solution in Search of a Problem?* by Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/waller20210805a.htm

Art Wilmarth is Professor Emeritus at The George Washington University Law School. In this episode, Art discusses his new paper, “It’s Time to Regulate Stablecoins as Deposits and Require Their Issuers to Be FDIC-Insured Banks.” Specifically, Art explains why he believes that stablecoin issuers and distributors should be required to become FDIC-insured banks and the other steps he would like to see financial regulators take in the interim, including having the SEC use its existing authority to regulate stablecoins as “securities” and having the Department of Justice designate stablecoins as “deposits” and bring enforcement actions to prevent issuers and distributors of stablecoins from unlawfully receiving “deposits” in violation of Section 21(a) of the Glass-Steagall Act.   Related Links:   Art’s profile: Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr. | GW Law | The George Washington University (gwu.edu)   It’s Time to Regulate Stablecoins as Deposits and Require Their Issuers to Be FDIC-Insured Banks: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4000795   President’s Working Group on Financial Markets Report on Stablecoins: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0454

Hilary Allen is a professor of law at the American University Washington College of Law and author of “Driverless Finance: Fintech’s Impact on Financial Stability.” In this episode, Hilary discusses the financial stability risks associated with the rise of crypto-assets, fintech payments, and machine learning; and why she believes regulators should be guided by the precautionary principle in addressing these risks.   Hilary’s Profile: https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/hjallen/bio   Hilary’s Twitter: @ProfHilaryAllen GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners   Related Links:   Driverless Finance: Fintech’s Impact on Financial Stability by Hilary Allen

Sara Greene is a sociologist and legal scholar whose research utilizes qualitative empirical methods to study the relationship between law, poverty, and inequality. In this episode, Sara discusses her recent paper “Stealing (Identity) From the Poor.” Sara discusses why low-income individuals are particularly vulnerable to identity theft, why the existing regulatory regime around data breaches ignores the unique needs and circumstances of the poor, and how she would transform this regulatory regime by creating a new federal agency with field offices in all fifty states.   Sara’s Duke Law Profile: https://law.duke.edu/fac/ssgreene/   Sara’s Twitter: @SaraJSGreene GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners   Related Links:   Stealing (Identity) From the Poor by Sara Greene   Credit Scoring Duality by Sara Greene

In this special look-back episode, Tim Swanson breaks down major developments in the cryptocurrency market in 2021. Tim is head of market intelligence at London-based blockchain company Clearmatics and is the founder and director of research at tech advisory firm Post Oak Labs.   Tim’s Twitter: @ofnumbers GFMC’s Twitter: @DukeGFMC Lee’s Twitter: @leereiners The FinReg Blog: https://sites.law.duke.edu/thefinregblog/

Costas Stephanou and Matteo Aquilina from the Financial Stability Board (FSB) discuss the fragilities in the non-bank financial intermediation sector that were revealed in March 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the work of the FSB to address these risks. Non-bank financial intermediaries include money market mutual funds, other open-ended funds, asset managers, non-bank corporate bond dealers, and derivatives central counterparties. The sector was on the bring of collapse in March 2020 before central banks took extraordinary and unprecedented action.   Related Links   Enhancing the Resilience of Non-Bank Financial Intermediation: Progress report(November 2021)   Policy proposals to enhance money market fund resilience: Final report (October 2021)   Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation 2020 (December 2020)   Holistic Review of the March Market Turmoil (November 2020)