Peter Norman

Plumbers and Visionaries: Securities Settlement and Europe’s Financial Market is a path-breaking account of the history and future of the securities settlement industry in Europe. Written by experienced journalist and author, Peter Norman, this book takes a look at the less visible, but nevertheless critical segment of the global capital markets, following the development of securities settlement across Europe’s frontiers. It encompasses the free-wheeling days of the Eurobond market in the 1960s, through the growing integration of the European Union, to the highly regulated and efficient multi-trillion euro business securities settlement it is today. This book is the story of a financial sector that has grown hugely in importance in the 40 years since Euroclear, now the world’s premier settlement system for domestic and international securities transactions, was created to deal with a settlement crisis that threatened to smother the international capital market in its infancy. Beginning with the settlement crisis in the Eurobond market, this book describes how Euroclear and later Cedel, its arch-rival, were founded to deal with the problem. It follows the challenges posed by cross-border settlement for a growing range of securities when most financial infrastructures operated only within national frontiers. The book demonstrates how securities settlement became an issue for public policy after the stock market crash of 1987 and how the problems of cross-border settlement moved rapidly up the European policy agenda after the euro’s launch. More than a mere history, this book engages with the people who created the modern European securities settlement industry and taps into the often entertaining memories of its founding fathers. This book also focuses on the difficulties and challenges of cross-border transactions which have been identified as hampering Europe’s economic growth. It looks at the present state of the industry seeking a way forward so that the securities settlement infrastructure will better serve a single European capital market.

Securities Settlement and Europe's Financial Market

Plumbers and Visionaries

Clearing houses, or CCPs, were among the very few organisations to emerge from the global financial crisis with their standing enhanced. In the chaotic aftermath of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, they successfully completed trades worth trillions of dollars in a multitude of financial instruments across listed and over-the-counter markets, and so helped avert financial Armageddon. That success transformed the business of clearing. Governments and regulators around the world gave CCPs and the clearing services they provide a front-line role in protecting the global economy from future excesses of finance. CCPs, which mitigate risk in financial markets, responded by greatly expanding their activities, notably in markets for over-the-counter derivatives, and often in fierce competition with one another. In The Risk Controllers, journalist and author Peter Norman describes how CCPs operate, how they handled the Lehman default, and the challenges they now face. Because central counterparty clearing is a complex business with a long history that continues to influence decisions and structures even in today’s fast changing world, The Risk Controllers explores the development of CCPs and clearing from the earliest times to the present. It draws on the experiences of the people who helped to shape the business of clearing today. It sets the development of CCPs and clearing in the broader context of changes in society, politics and regulation. The book examines turning points, such as the 1987 stock market crash, that set clearing on a new path and the impact of long running trends, including the exponential growth of computer power and the ebb and flow of globalisation. Written in non-technical language, The Risk Controllers provides a unique and accessible guide to CCPs and clearing. It is essential reading for clearing professionals, legislators and regulators whose job it is to take this vitally important business into the future. “The recent crisis has, thankfully, renewed interest in the importance of central counterparties: how they can help preserve stability or, as Hong Kong showed in 1987, undermine stability if they are not super sound. Peter Norman’s book places the role of clearing houses in a historical context, and explains why the financial system’s plumbing matters so much. It should be read by anyone interested in building safer capital markets.” Paul Tucker, Deputy Governor Financial Stability, Bank of England

Central Counterparty Clearing in Globalised Financial Markets

The Risk Controllers

John English

Ruth Madigan

Originally published in 1976. Slum clearance is a particularly significant process because it places the ordinary citizen in a state of extreme dependence on his local authority. The local authority not only destroys his existing environment but controls access to a replacement council house. This book highlights both the control over the life chances of individual citizens which local government can exercise and the potential impotence of citizens caught up in a complex bureaucratic process. It investigates the difficulties faced by individuals in exercising even the rights and choices which are ostensibly provided by the existing structure. The book also seeks to apply theories of urban sociology in exploring the control of access to public housing. The essential objective of this study is demystification of the administrative processes of slum clearance and rehousing through analysis of local authority bureaucracy and its impact on individuals.

The Social and Administrative Context in England and Wales

Slum Clearance

Marie-Louise Marc

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Pink!

Tagebuch vom 06.09.2007 bis zum 19.01.2008

Testament 2000

Peter Norman

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