Speaker: Dr Clara Martins Pereira (Associate Professor of Financial Law, University of Durham)

Abstract: The increasing use of AI in finance is predicted to have mixed impact on financial stability: while AI can be used to help financial institutions and supervisors identify, manage, and monitor systemic risk, it can also increase the frequency and severity of crises by exacerbating existing vulnerability channels. Under the UK’s technology-agnostic approach to AI, algorithmic technologies are primarily governed through existing sectoral frameworks rather than bespoke regulation. I argue that this approach might be insufficient to mitigate their negative impact on financial stability. The features that separate AI from other technologies—opacity, autonomy, and adaptability—make existing regulatory frameworks and architectures a poor fit for tackling the financial systemic risk created by AI. Disclosure rules are undermined by ‘black box’ opacity and the unpredictability of autonomous algorithm-algorithm interactions, while ex-ante testing struggles to predict endogenous risks arising from those interactions and their systemic impact. Crucially, model risk management and operational resilience frameworks, often calibrated for acute disruptions and focused on individual firms, are ill-equipped to ensure systemic resilience when AI models drift in similar ways. The article concludes that mitigating the risks of AI for financial stability calls for a purposeful change towards specialised algorithmic governance rules, and a review of supervision and enforcement practices.

Dr Clara Martins Pereira is Associate Professor of Financial Law and Director for International Development at Durham Law School, Invited Professor at Católica Lisbon School of Law, and Global Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on financial law and regulation, technological innovation, and sustainable development. Clara holds a DPhil, MPhil, and Magister Juris from the University of Oxford, as well as an MSc in Law and Business and an LLB from Católica Lisbon. She has held academic roles at King’s College London, the University of Oxford, and the LSE, and served as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia Law School, Sapienza University of Rome, and the Max Planck Institute, among others. Formerly a capital markets lawyer at PLMJ, she has also acted as a consultant for organisations such as the World Bank and ICF.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website:

http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Convenors: Professor Louise Gullifer (University of Cambridge) and Associate Professor Dora Neo (National University of Singapore)

Speakers:

• Junayed Ahmed CHOWDHURY, Vertex Chambers, Bangladesh
• Megumi HARA, Chuo University, Japan
• Parawee KASITINON, Thammasat University, Thailand
• Debanshu MUKHERJEE, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, India
• Huyen PHAM, International Finance Corporation, Vietnam
• Griselda (Gay) G. SANTOS, Financial Inclusion Advocate, Philippines
• Aria SUYUDI, Indonesia Jentera School of Law, Indonesia
• Lebing WANG, Law School of University of International Business and Economics, China

The edited volume of essays Secured Transactions Law in Asia: Principles, Perspectives and Reform (Hart Publishing, 2021) provided an in-depth exploration of secured transactions law in thirteen civil law and common law jurisdictions in Asia. A varied picture emerged. While the law in some jurisdictions had already been reformed to conform largely with the principles reflected in modern personal property security statutes and international codifications such as the UNCITRAL Model Law on Secured Transactions, there were jurisdictions that were in the process of undergoing secured transactions law reform, as well as those in which no particular attention was being paid to reforming the law.

In this webinar, the editors of the volume, Professor Louise Gullifer and Associate Professor Dora Neo, bring together some of its contributors for an update of significant developments in secured transactions law that have taken place since its publication. Jurisdictions that are discussed include China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website:

http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/

Speaker: Associate Professor Aurelio Gurrea-Martínez (Singapore Management University)

Abstract: Despite the influence of the Global North in many insolvency laws and practices in the Global South, this article shows that the Global South has innovated in many aspects of insolvency law. In some cases, these innovations consist of solutions that, with certain adjustments, have been imported from the Global North. In others, they are really ‘autochthonous innovations’ from the Global South. This article identifies both types of innovations, providing examples from jurisdictions such as Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Peru, Philippines, Thailand and Uruguay. More importantly, it will be shown how those innovations from the Global South can help mitigate certain problems existing in many insolvency systems in the Global North, such as the excessive power of DIP lenders often observed in the United States, the lengthy and inefficient insolvency proceedings found in many European countries, the unattractive insolvency regime for debtors existing in countries like Australia and New Zealand, and the stigma of insolvency still observed in most jurisdictions around the world, including advanced economies with sophisticated insolvency frameworks such as Singapore. Therefore, whether it is for the much-needed purpose of improving the design of insolvency law in the Global South, or at least for expanding the universe of ideas that can help improve many insolvency systems in the Global North, the Global South – and the Global South beyond India and China – needs to be more actively included in the study of insolvency law. Otherwise, we will be missing the opportunity to learn from many ideas and innovative solutions that can contribute to the improvement and understanding of insolvency systems around the world.

3CL runs the 3CL Travers Smith Lunchtime Seminar Series, featuring leading academics from the Faculty, and high-profile practitioners.

For more information see the Centre for Corporate and Commercial Law website:

http://www.3cl.law.cam.ac.uk/