Judgement-led regulation: Reflections on data and discretion

This article examines the nature and rationale of judgement-led regulation but also questions the claim that this is a novel approach to regulation. Progressively, the analysis turns on the issue of its effective implementation and the interplay of discretion and data. In this connection, the article points to some further steps that will be needed in order to make judgement-led regulation work. Current debate focuses on the legal obstacles that stand in the way of accessing and sharing information; however, the article demonstrates that our capacity of making use of data is at least equally compromised by market and regulatory complexity as well as the absence of a comprehensive system of data resource management. Accordingly, a key priority should be the simplification of the legal and institutional framework of financial regulation, the development of an integrated system of data taxonomy and ultimately the simplification of market structure.