"Reforming Bank Governance: 'Top-Down' Reform and Bank Resistance"

Author: Marcus Stanley

The 2008 financial crisis laid bare serious issues in the governance of banks and financial firms around the world, as regulators were confronted with widespread misconduct and a lack of effective internal risk management. In response, regulators focused on reforming the traditional top-down corporate governance framework operating through boards of directors, despite the shortcomings of this approach for highly leveraged institutions such as banks. Looking back at the failure of reforms since 2008, this paper proposes ways in which “regulation from below” by engaged and empowered bank workers can provide an alternative to a purely “top-down” approach and strengthen efforts to improve bank governance, and therefore the health of the global economy.