Research
Research Impact
I have a long publication record at the intersection of international economic law, banking and financial market law/regulation, and corporate law with special emphasis on the formation of international financial regulatory norms and their implementation into the European Union and United States legal systems. (see my ORCID page at 0000-0002-0357-526X for a full list of publications). I am most proud of how my research and publications have influenced academic debates and policymakers. I strive to focus on issues that have important policy implications and which address broader issues of social equity, diversity and inclusion. Throughout my career I have been engaged in interdisciplinary research with economists, political economists and natural scientists.
My early work on global financial governance, international regulatory soft law and financial crises resulted in important publications, such as Global Governance of Financial Systems: the International Regulation of Systemic Risk (2006, Oxford University Press) (co-author). This book foretold the systemic risks that would topple the global financial system and was published 2 years before the beginning of the global financial crisis of 2007-08.[1]
Harvard’s Professor Richard Cooper reviewed the book and commented that:
“This book finds serious deficiencies with the by now extensive system of committees, organizations, rules, and guidelines that have emerged to govern and manage the international financial system. Concretely, it suggests that the existing framework, based on the supervision of individual financial institutions (especially banks), fails to take adequate account of the negative macroeconomic consequences that may flow from the financial failures of particular institutions... In making its central argument, the book offers informative coverage of the International Monetary Fund, the Basel committees on banking, the Asian financial crises, bankruptcy, the legal aspects of the system for settlement of payments, and many other relevant topics.”[2]
The book provided the first detailed critique of international financial regulatory standards (ie., the Basel Accord), including their flawed international decision-making processes, which we argued would lead to a global financial crisis.Our clarion call for global regulatory reform was ignored by many until the global credit crisis erupted in August 2007, and the European Parliament asked us to write the first report analysing how the global crisis occurred and how weak regulation contributed to it.[3]Our European Parliament Report was cited by many academics and regulatory reform panels and its proposals formed the basis for later EU institutional reforms and stricter bank capital and liquidity rules along with mandatory central clearing of derivatives.[4]The European Parliament Committee on the Financial Crisis invited us to write a follow-up report in 2010 entitled ‘Crisis Management, Burden-sharing and Solidarity’ discussing how governments can coordinate macroprudential policies to avoid another systemic crisis.[1]
Global Governance of Financial Systems and related articles originated a large literature aimed at studying the international regulatory causes and consequences of banking and financial crises and the importance of international soft law in developing international financial regulatory standards. Subsequent international legal analysis (Brummer, 2010) cites Global Governance of Financial Systems as a foundational work in this area. Besides its influence in academic research, this work and related literature also led to important policy initiatives at the national and international level.
Another important strand of my research has been on banking regulation and environmental sustainability. In 2013, I was commissioned by the United Nations Environment Office to conduct research and write a report comparing how countries regulate the financial risks associated with environmental sustainability, particularly climate finance risks. This research led to my path breaking report ‘Stability and Sustainability in Banking Reform: Are Environmental Risks Missing in Basel III’ (Cambridge, 2014).[2] This report was based on over one hundred interviews of regulators and bank officers from around the world and was the first study of the interrelationship between banking regulation, environmental sustainability, and climate change. My report has been widely cited and has spawned a growing area of research that analyses the relationship between law/regulation, finance, and environmental sustainability.
My research on banking regulation and environmental sustainability was elaborated further in my monograph Principles of Banking Regulation (2019, Cambridge University Press). https://www.cambridge.org/highereducation/books/principles-of-banking-regulation/8455CF78618A69FD75E5F2037B1091A1#overview
The book, having attracted positive reviews and commentaries,[3] analyses important bank regulatory developments concerning bank governance, structural regulation, shadow banking, financial technology and central bank digital currencies, and mis-selling of financial products.
Related to my research on sustainable finance and regulation, I am the co-editor of a new book entitled ‘Cambridge Handbook on Sustainable Finance: Governance, Regulation and Supervision’ (2025). https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/law/corporate-law/cambridge-handbook-eu-sustainable-finance-regulation-supervision-and-governance?format=HB&isbn=9781009483940
I should also add that the International Monetary Fund Legal Department invited me to attend a high-level workshop on 29-30 June 2022 at which I was invited to present my most recent work – a paper on international banking regulation, the Paris Climate Change Accord and Climate Finance Risk. At this high-level meeting with IMF officials and research staff, not only did I receive helpful comments on my paper, I learned that my previous work (particularly the UN report) had influenced the work of IMF research staff and regulatory experts and had contributed to the development of the IMF’s new regulatory and central bank policy framework adopted in 2022 that addresses how climate change risks affects central bank policies and banking regulation practices.
Most recently, my work on the legal aspects of central bank operations and how their policy tools affect environmental and social risks has resulted in a research paper entitled ‘Central Banking and Inequality’ (2022)(co-author Prof Seraina Gruenewald). This paper was commissioned by the European Central Bank Legal Research Programme and was presented by me and my co-author at the ECB’s annual legal research seminar on 8 June 2022.
In 2024, I was elected Director of the University of Zurich Competence Center of Sustainability: Finance, Law, Science and Humanities (CCF). The CCF is one of a few high level research centers at the University of Zurich. The CCF conducts inter-disciplinary research on climate finance issues and other areas of environmental and social sustainability. https://www.sustainablefinance.uzh.ch/en/about/researchers.html
Also, I have directly facilitated research on the topic of sustainable finance, regulation and governance by establishing the Research Network for Sustainable Finance . My research has also been accessible to the general public through a number journalistic reports in influential news outlets, such as The BBC, Al-Jazerra, The Financial Times, Bloomberg, Le Monde diplomatique, the Financial News, the Milken Review and Nikkei (the main Newspaper in Japan).
A list of my books and articles with citations can be found at: Kern Alexander - Google Scholar
[1] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2010/440248/IPOL-CRIS_ET(2010)440248_EN.pdf
[2] https://www.cisl.cam.ac.uk/resources/sustainable-finance-publications/banking-regulation
[1] The book has been cited over 500 times in academic publications and attracted much positive commentary in the media. See Le Monde diplomatique (1 Oct. 2006) https://eo.mondediplo.com/article1161.html See also B. Banaei, Global Governance of Financial Systems: The International Regulation of Systematic Risk, 35, Denv. J. Int'l L. & Pol'y 547 (2007)(book review). The book has been translated into French, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin).
[2] https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/2006-01-01/global-governance-financial-systems-international-regulation
[3] See K. Alexander, J. Eatwell, A. Persaud and R. Reoch (7 Dec. 2007), ‘Financial Supervision and Crisis Management in the EU’. http: https://policycommons.net/artifacts/1338220/financial-supervision-and-crisis-management-in-the-eu/1946575/
[4] For example, the DeLarosiere Report (February 2009), called for essentially the same regulatory and institutional reforms at the EU level that our Report called for in December 2007
Selected Recent Publications
K. Alexander (2022) 'Reconciling Lopsided Mandates, Secondary Objectives and the Importance of Sustainability: The Role of the European Central Bank in the Single Supervisory Mechanism', European Business Law Review, vol 33, no 1. Link (PDF, 830 KB)
K. Alexander (2022), Commentary on EU Banking Union, J-H Binder and M. Knoptik, (Nomos), Articles 5 and 17 of the Single Supervisory Mechanism Regulation by Kern Alexander, pp. 77-84 and pp. 242-254
K. Alexander (2022), ‘Global Financial Governance and Banking Regulation: Redesigning Regulation to Promote Stakeholder Interests’ in J Pauwellyn, M. Maggeti, T. Buthe, and A. Berman (eds.), Rethinking Participation in Global Governance: Challenges and Reforms in Financial and Health Institutions (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Chapter 5 Link
K. Alexander (2021), 'Central Banking and Climate Change', 49-74, in P. Fisher (ed.), Making the Financial System Sustainable (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
K. Alexander (2021), 'Financial Inclusion and Banking Regulation: the Role of Proportionality', Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems, Duke University School of Law, Volume 84, Number 1
K. Alexander, (2019) Principles of Banking Regulation (Cambridge University Press) Reviews
K Alexander, C Barnard, E Ferran, A Lang & N Moloney, (2018) Brexit and Financial Services: Law and Policy (Bloomsbury)
