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Regulatory technologies, risky subjects, and financial boundaries: Governing ‘fraud’ in the financial markets

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  • Williams, James W.

Abstract

Among the myriad changes to have impacted the regulation of financial markets in recent years, one of the most significant yet least recognized is the growing role of technology in the regulatory process where it is used to detect emerging problems in the marketplace and guide the enforcement process. Current applications range from surveillance technologies, to datamining and risk profiling tools, to data visualization and graphing programs. Using the term ‘regulatory technologies’, this paper examines in detail two such technologies and assesses not only their benefits and limitations, but also their more subtle role in shaping the very criteria through which financial transactions and market actors are represented, framed, and assessed for their regulatory merit. To the extent that this process hinges on the ability to make distinctions on the grounds of risk, typicality, and appropriateness, these technologies play a critical role in shaping the boundaries of enforcement and thus the scope and depth of the regulatory vision. This is revealed to have significant implications for our understanding of the place of technology in regulation and for the types of questions that must be addressed in discussions of financial governance.

Suggested Citation

  • Williams, James W., 2013. "Regulatory technologies, risky subjects, and financial boundaries: Governing ‘fraud’ in the financial markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 544-558.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:38:y:2013:i:6:p:544-558
    DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2012.08.001
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    5. Amani, Farzaneh A. & Fadlalla, Adam M., 2017. "Data mining applications in accounting: A review of the literature and organizing framework," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 32-58.
    6. Wendy Currie & Jonathan Jm Seddon, 2022. "Exploring technological instantiation of regulatory practices in entangled financial markets," Post-Print hal-03599145, HAL.
    7. Horacio Ortiz, 2022. "Political Imaginaries of the Weighted Average Cost of Capital: A Conceptual Analysis," Post-Print halshs-03513082, HAL.
    8. Michael Becker & Kevin Merz & Rüdiger Buchkremer, 2020. "RegTech—the application of modern information technology in regulatory affairs: areas of interest in research and practice," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 161-167, October.
    9. Laura Grassi & Davide Lanfranchi, 2022. "RegTech in public and private sectors: the nexus between data, technology and regulation," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 49(3), pages 441-479, September.
    10. Aziza Laguecir & Bernard Leca, 2018. "Strategies of visibility in contemporary surveillance settings: Insights from misconduct concealment in financial markets, Critical Perspectives on Accounting," Post-Print hal-01914996, HAL.
    11. Pflueger, Dane & Palermo, Tommaso & Martinez, Daniel, 2019. "Thinking infrastructure and the organization of markets: the creation of a legal market for cannabis in Colorado," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 91412, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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