Businesses will confront multipolar regulations

Significance

The United States continues to export regulatory paradigms to other countries, which either adopt US ideas as national statutes or endorse multilateral standards. Challenges to regulatory innovation will complicate corporate compliance efforts, by introducing additional uncertainty into an increasingly complex regulatory universe.

Impacts

• A probe of bank hiring practices is leading to concerns that US law criminalises generally accepted standard Asian business practices.
• Regulatory challenges could escalate following more widespread adoption of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).
• The HSBC scandal is forcing a rethink of how far governments will go to counter money laundering and tax avoidance.