## The Challenge of Enforcement in Securities Markets: Mission Impossible?

_IMF Working Papers, August 1, 2009_

## Source details

**Canonical URL:** [The Challenge of Enforcement in Securities Markets: Mission Impossible?](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/the-challenge-of-enforcement-in-securities-markets-mission-impossible-23140)

## Other formats

- [Markdown version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/the-challenge-of-enforcement-in-securities-markets-mission-impossible-23140/index.md)
- [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/the-challenge-of-enforcement-in-securities-markets-mission-impossible-23140/index.json)
- [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/the-challenge-of-enforcement-in-securities-markets-mission-impossible-23140/bundle-manifest.json)

## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Ana Carvajal, Jennifer A. Elliott
- Published: August 1, 2009
- Series: IMF Working Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451873153.001

---

### Overview and purpose
- Authors: Ana Carvajal, Jennifer A. Elliott
- Date: August 1, 2009
- Paper series: Working Paper No. 2009/168, Volume: 2009, Issue: 168
- Pages: 37
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451873153.001
- Stock No: WPIEA2009168
- ISBN: 9781451873153
- ISSN: 1018-5941
- Subject: Financial regulation and supervision; Financial services; Legal support in revenue administration; Securities; Securities regulation
- Keywords: court order; enforcement capacity; insider trading; regulators surveillance systems; securities regulator; U.K. FSA; WP

### Key findings and arguments
- Weaknesses in the enforcement of regulation have been targeted by the G-20 as a priority concern for reform.
- Enforcement efforts in securities markets have proven difficult and uneven.
- The Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme in the United States, which went undetected by U.S. authorities for more than two decades, highlights:
  - the importance of effective enforcement of securities regulation, and
  - the challenges securities regulators worldwide face in implementing credible enforcement programs.
- Noncompliance with securities law can have serious system-wide impact, not just individual losses.
- The credibility of the system as a whole rests on the existence of effective discipline — the probability of real consequences for failure to obey the law.

### Analytical approach
- The paper explores:
  - the elements of enforcement,
  - why enforcement is so challenging,
  - why enforcement is important, and
  - whether the effects of enforcement can be measured.
- Methodology: analysis of data gathered in the World Bank/IMF Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) to examine how enforcement is being carried out around the world.

### Conclusions and implications
- The paper draws conclusions regarding how countries are meeting the challenge of effective enforcement based on the FSAP data analysis.
- Effective enforcement is necessary to maintain system credibility by ensuring a real probability of consequences for legal violations.

*IMF Working Paper — The Challenge of Enforcement in Securities Markets: Mission Impossible? By Ana Carvajal and Jennifer A. Elliott, August 1, 2009. Working Paper No. 2009/168.*

---

## Content in this bundle

- **_wp09168**
  - [_wp09168 (Markdown version)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/_wp09168.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"}
  - [_wp09168 (PDF)](/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/_wp09168.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"}

---

_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/wp/issues/2016/12/31/the-challenge-of-enforcement-in-securities-markets-mission-impossible-23140_