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The aim of this paper is to explain the details of a trial program in China to introduce margin trading and securities lending.

The paper describes eligibility requirements for securities companies and their clients; accounts for margin trading and securities lending to be opened by the securities company; contracts between a securities company and its client that must be entered into; collateral a client is required to provide to the securities company; a client's rights and entitlement with respect to collateral; internal rules and precautions required of the securities company; the securities company's risk control requirements; and the possible impact of the new program on foreign investors.

The paper finds that the conduct of margin trading and securities lending in China is highly regulated. There are significant requirements with respect to separate accounts, collateral, contracts, and controls. Before providing margin trading or securities lending to clients, securities companies are required to carefully assess and determine the identity, creditworthiness, assets, income, securities investment experience, investment preferences, and risk appetite of their clients. The securities company must explain how the margin trading and securities lending will be conducted and the content of the contracts to the client, and require the client to sign a transaction risk disclosure letter that specifies certain risks involved in such business. A client may only maintain margin trading facilities and securities lending business with one securities company in China.

The paper provides a practical guide to a new program by lawyers who are experts in Chinese securities regulations.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the trial implementation of stock index futures trading, margin trading and securities lending in China – approved in principle by the State Council and confirmed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on January 8, 2010.

The paper describes various preliminary rules and regulations for stock index futures trading, margin trading, and securities lending that have been issued starting in 2006 and the latest regulatory developments, requirements and timing related to the trial implementation.

The stringent requirements imposed by CSRC highlights its cautious approach to the trial process for margin trading and securities lending. By defining “securities lending” as the borrowing of securities and the subsequent sale of those securities in the 2006 Trial Administrative Measures, the regulator appears to leave open the possibility of short selling.

The Announcement has been warmly welcomed by market participants because index futures trading, margin trading and securities lending are expected to significantly add to the Chinese equity market's liquidity and price discovery process in the long run.

The paper provides practical guidance from experienced securities lawyers.

This chapter places the discussion of trade and food security in a more general macroeconomic context.

This chapter uses historical analysis to briefly trace the debate on economy-wide policies, starting with the 1943 United Nations (UN) Conference on Food and Agriculture that led to the creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 1945. A general economic framework is used to organize the different channels through which macroeconomic policies may affect food and nutrition security.

Examples of monetary, financial, fiscal, and exchange rate policies are presented, along with their implications for food and nutrition security.

The current debates about trade and food security must be placed in the context of the overall macroeconomic framework: a single trade policy may have different impacts depending on its interactions with other macroeconomic policies and structural factors.

We examine the links between trade and food security, the processes that shape countries’ trade-related interventions in pursuit of food security objectives, and the prospects for better situating trade and food security in debates related to the use of trade policy.

Building on the previous and ongoing work of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and others, this chapter revisits the interaction between trade and food security, with the objective of contributing to a more informed discussion of policy choices and improved incorporation of food security concerns into trade-related decision-making processes.

The linkages between trade and food security have been subject to intense debate both at the national and international level. Furthermore, these linkages have become central to many trade-related discussions, including the ongoing multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization. However, the specific context of the relationship between trade and food security, and of the role of trade in securing improvements in food security, have made it difficult to craft a global framework that ensures that the pursuit of national objectives is compatible with reducing food insecurity at the global level.

As the global governance system undergoes a transition, the roles and responsibilities for food security are being redefined within a more complex and interconnected global landscape whose contours are still to be fleshed out. This calls for a reflection on the multilateral trading system and on the need to strengthen the synergies with nontrade processes to enhance the role of trade in contributing to food security.

This paper aims to measure the trade price impact of a recent regulatory disclosure intervention in municipal securities secondary markets, which required broker-dealers to disclose securities trading information on a near-real-time and continuing basis.

The author analyzes trade price outcomes in the preintervention and postintervention regimes using a suite of time series estimations that give heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors (Prais–Winsten and Cochrain–Orcutt), accommodate higher-order lag structure in the error term (autoregressive integrated moving average) and account for volatility clustering in the time series (generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity).

Results show that regulatory disclosure intervention significantly improved trade price efficiency in municipal securities secondary markets as daily trade price differential and volatility both declined market-wide after the disclosure intervention.

The sample consists of trades in State of California general obligation bonds; therefore, empirical findings may not be generalizable to other states, local governments and different types of bonds.

The findings highlight voluntary information disclosure as a practical and effective mechanism in disclosure regulation of municipal securities secondary markets.

Only a small body of work exists that examines information disclosure regulation in municipal securities secondary markets; therefore, this paper expands knowledge on the topic and should provide renewed impetus for regulatory efforts aimed at improving the efficiency of municipal capital markets.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the national security exception will not allow governments to respond to cyberspace threats within the confines of the world trade organization (WTO) rules.

This paper is a desktop study of international trade laws with a specific focus on the convergence of cybersecurity measures and the national security exception provisions of the WTO.

The trends towards cybersecurity measures may mean there will inevitably be an evolution of trade norms. The question is, will the collective of the WTO be a part of the evolution, or merely an observer? In the authors’ view, it is crucial that it is the former.

This study makes three contributions. It provides a literature review and discussion on cybersecurity and the impact on trade. It demonstrates that the national security exception provision will not excuse these measures, and it aims to underscore the importance of the WTO as a community of nations where negotiation on important global issues is possible.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concept and measurements of food security under the framework of The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, explores the link between international trade and food security with an empirical investigation into the case of China, and draw policy implications in the context of WTO.

This paper elaborates the theoretical interconnection between food security and international trade and then utilize an autoregressive distributed lag model to investigate how/whether trade affects food security in China from two dimensions.

The authors find that international trade indeed leads China to increase its dependence on food imports, namely, it negatively affects the food security in China. Owing to the importance of food security under multilateral trade system, this paper then briefly analyzes two relevant topics of Doha Round negotiation, i.e. public stockholding for food security and special safeguard measures. It is proposed that WTO members should support the food self-sufficiency endeavors of developing countries and appropriately exempt them from rigid discipline of domestic support and market access.

This paper discusses the interaction of international trade and food security in various aspects. Empirical study shows that increasing dependence on food imports will negatively impact the food security of China. It is concluded that WTO members should support the food self-sufficiency endeavors of developing countries and appropriately exempt them from rigid discipline of domestic support and market access.

Throughout the history of commerce, individuals have searched for informational advantages that will lead to their enrichment. In a time of global capital markets, 24 hours a day trading opportunities, and a professional services corps of market experts, informational advantages are pursued by virtually every market participant. This paper examines one of the most vilified informational advantages in modern capital markets: insider trading. In the USA during the 1980s, insider trading scandals occupied the front pages of not only the trade papers, but also quotidian tabloids. Assailed for its unfairness and characterised by some as thievery, insider trading incidents increased calls for stricter regulation of the marketplace and its participants. In the aftermath of the spectacular insider trading litigation in the USA in the late 1980s, many foreign states began to re‐evaluate the effectiveness of their own regulatory structures. In large part, this reassessment was not the produce of domestic demand, but constituted a response to American agitation for increased regulation of insider trading.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of illegal insider trading enforcement in China by focusing, among other things, on the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission's (CSRC) enforcement actions in the period 1993‐2006.

This paper discusses the CSRC's enforcement policies and practices of insider trading regulation, based upon administrative and judicial cases, face‐to‐face interviews with regulators, and policy documents.

A major finding of the study is the paucity of insider trading cases and the lack of convictions for insider trading offences in China. The campaign against securities offences did not actually come with the stricter enforcement of insider trading laws. A primary challenge in the insider trading regulation comes from the fact that most insider trading cases involve high‐ranking government and party officials. The CSRC lacks the power to directly administer discipline and penalties on government officials and party cadres for insider trading offences.

It is recommended that the CSRC be given more power, more resources and more trained regulators to detect and address insider trading activities. It is also recommended that the CSRC improve its surveillance capabilities by fully utilizing sophisticated computer surveillance software systems, by improving inter‐agency and inter‐market information‐sharing, and by cooperating with other countries' regulators and participating in the ISG's database to detect possible international insider trading.

The paper will be of interest to researchers in the field of financial crime and securities regulation. Regulators, the private sector and government departments will also benefit from an analysis of Chinese insider trading enforcement cases. This paper also suggests better strategies for dealing with insider trading offences in China. A fair and orderly market is crucial for investors in the Chinese market.

The purpose of this summary is to provide excerpts of selected Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Regulatory Notices and Disciplinary Actions issued in April, May, and June 2010.

The paper provides excerpts from FINRA Regulatory Notice 10‐18, Master Accounts and Sub‐Accounts; 10‐22, Regulation D Offerings; 10‐23, Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE); 10‐24, Trade Reporting; 10‐27, Customer Complaint Reporting; and 10‐30, Trading‐Pause Pilot Program; provides summaries of selected disciplinary actions.

(10‐18) If a firm has notice that the sub‐accounts of a master account have different beneficial ownership (but does not know the identities of the beneficial owners) or the firm is privy to facts and/or circumstances that would reasonably raise the issue as to whether the sub‐accounts, in fact, may have separate beneficial owners, then the firm must inquire further and satisfy itself as to the beneficial ownership of each such sub‐account. (10‐22) A broker‐dealer has a duty – enforceable under federal securities laws and FINRA rules – to conduct a reasonable investigation of securities that it recommends, including those sold in a Regulation D offering. (10‐23) On February 22, 2010, the SEC approved the second major proposed expansion of TRACE to include Asset‐backed Securities as TRACE‐Eligible Securities, to require the reporting of Asset‐backed Securities transactions and to establish reporting fees. (10‐27) Starting on July 1, 2010, the beginning of the third calendar quarter, firms must use revised and new product codes to report statistical information regarding written customer complaints relating to annuities and life settlement products. (10‐30) On June 10, 2010, FINRA began a pilot program in which it will halt trading otherwise than on an exchange with respect to securities included in the S&P 500® Index where the primary listing market has issued a trading pause due to extraordinary market volatility. Selected disciplinary actions: FINRA announced that it has settled charges with two additional firms relating to the sale of auction rate securities (ARS) that became illiquid when auctions froze in February 2008. FINRA announced that it has fined five broker‐dealers a total of $385,000 for the illegal sale of more than 8 billion shares of penny stock on behalf of their customers.

These are direct excerpts designed to provide a useful digest for the reader and an indication of regulatory trends. The FINRA staff is aware of this summary but has neither reviewed nor edited it. For further detail as well as other useful information, the reader should visit www.finra.org.