Is There a Role for the Securities Commission in Enforcing Corporate Governance?

Abstract

This paper asks whether there is a role for the securities commission (financial regulator, in some jurisdictions) in the design and enforcement of corporate governance. It warns that securities commissions acting alone cannot assure good corporate governance, and argues that the promotion and regulation of corporate governance is more effective with the cooperation of, and the input from, the corporate sector—given its experience and insights—with the role of the securities commission, in the words of former US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair William O. Douglas, being limited to holding the shotgun behind the door.