The Global Financial System refers to those financial institutions and regulations that act on the international level, as opposed to those that act on a national or regional level. The main players are the global institutions, such as IMF and World Bank, national agencies and government departments, e.g. central banks and finance ministries, and private institutions acting on the global scale e.g. banks and hedge funds. A financial institution acts as an agent that provides financial services for its clients. ... The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing global financial system‘s current trade account balances of member states. ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means... For the U.S. government securities, see Treasury security. ... The essential function of a bank is to provide services related to the storing of deposits and the extending of credit. ... The term hedge fund dates back to the first such fund founded by Alfred Winslow Jones in 1949. ...

Deficiencies and reform of the GFS have been hotly discussed in recent years.

History

The history of financial institutions must be differentiated from economic history and history of money. In Europe, it starts with the first financiers and banks in the 1400-1600s in central and western Europe. The first modern bank was Bank of Barcelona (1401); the first global financiers the Fuggers (1487) in Germany; the first stock company in England (Russia Company 1553); the first foreign exchange market (The Royal Exchange 1566, England); the first stock exchange the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Economic history is the application of economic theories to historical study. ... Money is any marketable good or token used by a society as a store of value, a medium of exchange, or a unit of account. ... Financier (IPA: /ˌfi nãn ˈsjei/) is an elegant term for a person who handles large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. ... The essential function of a bank is to provide services related to the storing of deposits and the extending of credit. ... Centuries: 14th century - 15th century - 16th century Decades: 1350s 1360s 1370s 1380s 1390s - 1400s - 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s Years: 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409 Events and Trends Categories: 1400s ... Centuries: 16th century - 17th century - 18th century Decades: 1550s 1560s 1570s 1580s 1590s - 1600s - 1610s 1620s 1630s 1640s 1650s Years: 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 Events and Trends November 5, 1605 - The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the British Parliament. ... Events The Lollards, a religious sect taught by John Wycliffe, were persecuted for their beliefs. ... The Fugger family was a historically prominent group of European bankers. ... Events Richard Fox becomes Bishop of Exeter. ... Events June 26 - Christs Hospital in London gets a Royal Charter July 6 - Edward VI of England dies July 10 - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England - for the next nine days July 18 - Lord Mayor of London proclaims Queen Mary as the rightful Queen - Lady Jane Grey... Interior of Royal Exchange, during 2002 Cow Parade Exterior of Royal Exchange, City of London The Royal Exchange in the City of London was founded in 1565 by Sir Thomas Gresham to act as a centre of commerce for the city, where merchants and tradesman could do business. ... Events January 7 - Pius V becomes Pope Selim II succeeds Suleiman I as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Religious rioting in the Netherlands signifies the beginning of the Eighty Years War in the Netherlands. ... A bond from the Dutch East India Company, dating from 7 November 1623, for the amount of 2,400 florins The Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX) is a European stock exchange, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ...

Milestones in the history of financial institutions are the Gold Standard (1871-1932), the founding of IMF, World Bank at Bretton Woods, and the abolishment of fixed exchange rates in 1973. 1922 U.S. gold certificate The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. ... 1871 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Bretton Woods can refer to: The resort town of Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. ... 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ...

Institutions

International Institutions

The most prominent international institutions are the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing global financial system‘s current trade account balances of member states. ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means... For other uses of the initials WTO, see WTO (disambiguation). ...

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF [http:/www.imf.org]) Keeps account of international balance of payments accounts of member states, and for members in financial distress can acts as a lender of last resort, e.g. currency crisis, problems meeting balance of payment when in deficit and debt default. Membership is based on quotas, or the amount of money a country provides to the fund relative to the size of its role in the international trading system.

• The World Bank [http:/www.worldbank.org] Aims to provide funding, take up credit risk or offer favorable terms to development projects mostly in developing countries that couldn't be obtained by the private sector.

• The World Trade Organization (WTO [http:/www.wto.org]) settles trade disputes and negotiates international trade agreements in its rounds of talks (currently the Doha Round)

The flag of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the international organization entrusted with overseeing the global financial system by monitoring foreign exchange rates and balance of payments, as well as offering technical and financial assistance when asked. ... The balance of payments is a measure of the payments that flow from one exports and imports of goods, services, and financial capital, as well financial transfers. ... The term lender of last resort referrs to the capacity of a central bank of a country to bankroll the government of that country and to act as a lender to the smaller banks of the country. ... A currency crisis (also known as a financial crisis) occurs when the value of a currency changes quickly, undermining its ability to serve as a medium for exchange or a store of value. ... Default is the name of a number of quite different concepts. ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means... Development has meaning in several contexts: Biological development of embryos in the context of developmental biology Child development or post-natal human development (pediatrics, etc) Personal development (New Age self improvement) Economic development in economics and international relations Human development - to improve the health, education and range of choices of... The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an international organization which oversees a large number of agreements defining the rules of trade between its member states (WTO, 2004a). ... The Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations aims to lower barriers to trade around the world, with a focus on making trade fairer for developing countries. ...

Government Institutions

Governments act in various ways as actors in the GFS: they pass the laws and regulations for financial markets and set the tax burden for private players, e.g. banks, funds and exchanges. They also participate actively through discretionary spending. They are closely tied (though in most countries independent of) to central banks that issue government debt, set interest rates and deposit requirements, and intervene in the foreign exchange market. Discretionary spending refers to spending set on a yearly basis by decision of Congress and is part of fiscal policy. ... Government debt (public debt, national debt) is money owed by government, at any level (central government, federal government, national government, municipal government, local government, regional government). ... An interest rate is the rental price of money. ... The currency market or foreign exchange market is the market where one currency is traded for another. ...

Private Participants

Players acting in the stock-, bond-, foreign exchange-, derivatives- and commodities-markets and investment banking are A stock, also referred to as a share, is commonly a share of ownership in a corporation. ... Dutch East India Company bond, issued in 1623. ... In the foreign exchange market, the currency traders goal is to earn as much profit as possible as a result of purchasing and selling foreign currencies. ... In finance, a derivative security is a contract that specifies the rights and obligations between the issuer of the security and the holder to receive or deliver future cash flows (or exchange of other securities or assets) based on some future event. ... The word commodity has a different meaning in business than in Marxian political economy. ... Investment banks assist public and private corporations in raising funds in the Capital Markets (both equity and debt), as well as in providing strategic advisory services for mergers, acquisitions and other types of financial transactions. ...

• Commercial banks
• Pension funds
• Hedge funds and Private Equity

The essential function of a bank is to provide services related to the storing of deposits and the extending of credit. ... A pension (also known as superannuation) is a retirement plan intended to provide a person with a secure income for life. ... The term hedge fund dates back to the first such fund founded by Alfred Winslow Jones in 1949. ... Private equity is a broad term that refers to any type of equity investment in an asset in which the equity is not freely tradable on a public stock market. ...

Legal Frameworks and Treatises

• Eurozone
• NAFTA
• Mercosur
• CIS

The Eurozone (also called Euro-area or Euroland) is the subset of European Union member states which have adopted the Euro (€) currency, creating a currency union. ... The North American Free Trade Agreement, known usually as NAFTA, is a comprehensive trade agreement linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico in a free trade sphere. ... Flag of Mercosur Mercosur or Mercosul (Spanish: Mercado Común del Sur, Portuguese: Mercado Comum do Sul, English: Southern Common Market) is a trading zone among Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, founded in 1991 by the Treaty of Asuncion, which was later amended and updated by the 1995 Treaty of... The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (in Russian: Содружество Независимых Государств (СНГ) - Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv) is a confederation or alliance consisting of 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics, the exceptions being the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). ...

Major Incidents

The most current incidents in the GFS are the Asian financial crisis, the following devaluations in Russia, Brazil and Argentina and the bursting of the Dot-Com bubble What follows is a list of over 250 Wikipedia articles on finance topics. ... The Asian financial crisis was a financial crisis that started in July 1997 in Thailand, and affected currencies, stock markets, and other asset prices of several Asian countries, many part of the East Asian Tigers. ... The stock market downturn of 2002 (some say stock market crash) is the sharp drop in stock prices during 2002 in stock exchanges across the United States and Europe. ...

Criticism, Discussions and Reform

Among the many critics of the GFS are

• the ATTAC network
• Joseph Stiglitz
• George Soros

Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC - Association pour la Taxation des Transactions pour lAide aux Citoyens) is an activist organization for the establishment of a tax on exchange transactions. ... Joseph Stiglitz (born February 9, 1943) is an American economist, author and winner of Nobel Prize for economics ( 2001). ... George Soros George Soros (born August 12, 1930 in Budapest, Hungary as Soros György) is a Hungarian-born American businessman. ...

See also

• Trade bloc
• Finance
• Financial economics
• Globalization
• List of finance topics
• List of international trade topics