Comparative Study On Fiduciary Obligations Of Investment Banks

Recently, scandals occur continuously in the global financial market. In the US, the punishment of top ten Wall Street firms follows the fall of Enron and China also witnesses the disclosure of Inside Story of funds and the troubles of securities firms. The core of the professional crisis of securities firms does not lie in the difficulties of operations but in the doubt about the credit and trust of the whole industry. Hence, the issues on fiduciary obligations of financial intermediaries, especially investment banks, are very important subjects in study and research, which is of very great theoretic and practical significance.This dissertation is dedicated to studying in view of investment banking services the fiduciary obligation theories of investment banks from the angle of comparative law, which illustrates different legal relations of investment banks in different categories of services and hence sheds light on its obligations and liabilities in different categories of services with focus on their fiduciary duty. Positive analysis is conducted by combining with the legislation and cases of various nations, which reveals the rule-based evolution of fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks. In view of the supervision and enforcement mechanism of obligations and liabilities, the dissertation explores the embodiment of fiduciary principle in the enforcement mechanisms, mainly the civil liability of investment banks and in the self-disciplinary mechanism, as well as the embodiment of the fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks in international regulation. This dissertation is composed of six chapters, totaling about 230,000 Chinese characters.Chapter 1 starts with illustrating the definition and the development trend of investment banks, highlights the difference of the substantive features between investment banks and commercial banks and the involving features of investment banking and points out that the clue to the study on the fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks is based on their different services; then different legal relations of an investment bank have been systematically illustrated in different categories of investment banking services selected, focusing on the core fiduciary obligations and liabilities summarized; finally, the law of the evolution of the civil obligations of securities activities, especially that of the theories of the fiduciary obligations of investment banks is briefly analyzed, which serves as the overall framework and background for the analysis and discussion of the whole dissertation.The analysis and exploration shows that the elements of tort liability and contractual liability of investment banks have witnessed twice or even serial evolution or dilution in the process of their services, and the formation of the fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks may be understood as an intrinsic unity of such two categories of liabilities, with the constructive elements gradually relaxed. The fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks are both contractual and tortuous, or concurrent of contractual liability and tort liability in most cases. The social contractual attribute of the fiduciary principle is the basis for the concurrence of the tort liability and contractual liability of investment banks. The constructive elements of general tort liability evolve and dilute for the first time in terms of the civil liability of securities transactions with the liability standards becoming stricter, and in terms of the fiduciary liability of investment banks, the constructive elements further evolve and become more relaxed, such as the requirements of due diligence and rule of suitable recommendations in traditional underwriting and brokerage services respectively. The contractual basis and liability of investment banks as financial intermediaries becomes further clearer and more predominant in new services of financial derivatives and online trading activities, with the standard of contractual liability evolving even stricter, and the constructive requirements of tort liability still keep on evolving and diluting, even to disappearance of tort liability. In view of its evolution as a principle, fiduciary principle is the result and specification of the evolution of the principle of good faith or bona fides, and the evolution of the fiduciary principle still proceeds, leading to the formation of various special rules.Chapter 2 follows and expands in details the evolution of the fiduciary principle briefly introduced in Chapter 1, systematically illustrates the ethical sources and legal sources of the concept of good faith or bona fide and the rule-based fiduciary regime, covering the fiduciary relations, the evolution and relations of the theories of fiduciary duties and the classification of fiduciary duties of investment banks, which is the theoretic basis for the study of the full text.Comparative analysis on the expressions, position and roles of good faith or bona fide and fiduciary concepts and rules in civil law system and common law system shows that in economic view, social capital is the essential attribute of an investment bank as a fiduciary and in legal view, social contractual obligation is the essential attribute of an investment bank as a fiduciary. The principle of good faith or bona fide is not only one of the basic principle of municipal law but also one of the general principle of international law serving as one of its sources. The principle of good faith or bona fide is both legal principle and moral principle, which intermingle and play important functions. Ininternational economic law, especially in international financial law, the principle of good faith or bona fide also evolves toward the fiduciary principle, and the evolution of the fiduciary principle also proceeds in international economic law, leading to the formation of more perfect regime of specific rules with rich content.Fiduciary rules and trust are the core for the normal development of financial intermediaries including investment banks, and the rule-based fiduciary obligations and liabilities of the investment bank confirms to the development trend of modern law from contract to status. Fiduciary norms essentially belong to equitable law, which is of guiding and supplementary role for common law and statutory law. Fiduciary norms are both moral and legal issues, which is one of the roots and orientations of legislation. Fiduciary obligation and liability are required both by ethics and law, which goes through each and every aspect of investment banking services from beginning to end, and the ethic requirements are inseparable for investment banking services at any time, which is the dialectical unity of professional ethics and legal rules.It is pointed out that the concepts of fiduciary duty or obligation and liability of investment banks herein are the fiduciary concepts in British and American law, the core concepts of which are trust, agency and partnership. In addition, the theories of the fiduciary obligations of investment banks keep on evolving, leading to the formation of three specific theories of the fiduciary liability for investment banks: shingle theory, fiduciary theory and suitability theory. The dissertation deliberates the relationship among those concepts and theories and the corresponding application thereof. Finally, it elaborates on the classification of fiduciary duties, especially the duty of care and the duty of loyalty in terms of content and the prudential rules and the protective rules in terms of jurisdiction in international supervision and regulation.Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 go through the specific services of investment banks and elaborate on the rule-based embodiment of fiduciary obligations and liabilities in legislation and cases, which is the actual application of the general theories of fiduciary obligations and liabilities discussed in Chapter 2.As discussed in Chapter 3, the fiduciary obligations of investment banks are mainly manifested as due diligence or reasonable investigation and avoidance of conflict of interests in the original underwriting services, and the rule of suitability and avoidance of conflict of interests are indispensable for brokerage and consulting services. In self-underwriting, the fiduciary obligations of investment banks are manifested as the rule of pricing, avoidance of conflict of interests and the rule of suitable recommendations.As discussed in Chapter 4, in financial derivative services and new online services,the fiduciary obligations of investment banks are mainly manifested as the requirements of suitability rule.The rule-based evolution of the fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks as financial intermediaries is a currently clear trend for each nation, which is strongly supported by legislation and case law.Chapter 5 is a brief analysis on the supervision and regulation mechanism of fiduciary liabilities of investment banks. Because of the social contractual attribute of fiduciary obligations and liabilities of investment banks, the supervision and enforcement of fiduciary liability of investment banks in securities activities shall make integral use of criminal, administrative and civil responsibility systems (among which the civil responsibility system shall be placed in top priority), as well as the self-disciplinary mechanism.This chapter has firstly compared the advantages and disadvantages of the three general responsibility systems, and then mainly analyzed the roles and features of the civil responsibility system as well as related issues on Chinese civil procedures of securities activities. Since the principle of good faith and the fiduciary principle is the basis of self-disciplines, this chapter ends in elaborating on the features and roles of self-disciplines in the supervision of fiduciary liability of investment banks, with elucidation on the history and future of self-disciplinary rules in securities activities.Chapter 6 expounds the embodiment of fiduciary obligations of investment banks in international supervision and regulation. The discussion reveals that the fiduciary principle formed as a result of the evolution of the principle of good faith or bona fide in international law has become one of the fundamental principles of international regulation and supervision of investment banks, and as compared with municipal law, international law is in more need of the role and function of good faith principle and fiduciary principle. In international supervision and regulation, the fiduciary principle is emerging as a fundamental principle, the specific rules of which are the cornerstone for international financial regulation, especially the regulation and supervision of investment banks in the EU and the WTO.In jurisdiction, the liability of different natures of investment banks in different categories of services forms the fundamental basis for labor division and cooperation of nations in international financial regulation. The fiduciary obligation and liability of investment banks may be divided into prudential and protective content, and thus prudential aspects are mainly under the jurisdiction of home state while protective aspects are generally under the jurisdiction of host state. However, with the development of e-commerce and online banking, the jurisdiction of source country comes into spot.which is further followed by the jurisdiction of home-host concept.Ultimately, this dissertation has pointed out the shortcomings of Chinese legislation in terms of the fiduciary obligation and liability of investment banks and put forth prediction and suggestion on the related legislation. Compared with the advanced western nations, China's legal system remains less developed and thus China shall make more use of the legal and moral functions of the fiduciary principle and quicken up the legal evolution based on rules of the good faith or bona fide principle and the fiduciary principle. Hence in legislation, the proposed amendments to the Securities Law of the PRC shall clearly stipulate the rule of due diligence and rule of conflicts of interest in terms of underwriting services of securities firms; Chinese securities firms should be allowed to undertake transactions of financial derivatives and the suitability rule should be correctly and appropriately formulated for such transactions; the suitability rule should also be formulated in the legislation of online brokerage services of securities firms; and in the field of international law, China shall formulate the corresponding regulations and policies for full utilization of the rules of "prudential carve-outs" aiming at safeguarding the financial market security of China and facilitating Chinese financial institutions in fair participation of international competition.There is a big difference or even contradiction in understanding and practices of the good faith or fiduciary concepts and regimes between common law system and civil law system, and thus contradictions and conflicts are unavoidable when Chinese legislation transplants and absorbs the strong points of different legal systems. It is expected that this dissertation may be helpful in the formation and development of fiduciary habits, practices and rules in the investment banking profession, in the capital market and in the whole society of China and conducive to the relevant legislation and judicature of China, which will facilitate the construction of the socialist fiduciary theories of China.