The University of New South Wales

go to UNSW home page

Postgraduate Handbook

PRINT THIS PAGE
Regulation of Online Investing - LAWS3088
View down walkway

 
Faculty: Faculty of Law
 
 
School:  Faculty of Law
 
 
Course Outline: See below
 
 
Campus: Kensington Campus
 
 
Career: Postgraduate
 
 
Units of Credit: 8
 
 
EFTSL: 0.16667 (more info)
 
 
Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2
 
 
Enrolment Requirements:
 
 
Prerequisite: Academic Program must be either 9200, 9210, 5740 or 9230
 
 
Fee Band: 3 (more info)
 
 
Further Information: See Class Timetable
 
 

Description

This course introduces the Internet, the institutions and new business types in the online investing industry. It considers the regulatory difficulties involved in applying law and policy developed in advisory broking conditions to online investing sites. It looks at features of online activity - immediacy, inter-activity and inter-jurisdictionality - which suggest that different regulatory approaches might be needed online. The course also raises cross-cutting issues such as behavioural finance and investor education; the loss of regulatory 'gate-keepers' eg advisory brokers; the overwhelming amounts of financial information available, new actors such as day-traders and empirical evidence about online investor attitudes and practices coming from the ARC 'Regulating Online' project at www.bakercyberlawcentre.org/onlineinvesting


LLM Specialisation

Corporate, Commercial and Taxation Law.

Course Objectives

A candidate who has successfully completed this subject should:
  • Understand the context of online investing and its regulation
  • Understand the main policy, legal and regulatory issues raised by the topics for the course
  • Have a critical familiarity with the literature of online investing regulation
  • Understand the relevance of some cross-cutting issues eg behavioural finance, the loss of regulatory 'gatekeepers', cross border transactions
  • Be able to critically evaluate the information and ideas presented in the course and write a sustained and justified argument on a topic central to the course in the form of a research essay

Main Topics

  • Institutions and business models of online investing
  • Application of financial services licensing to online investing
  • Licence and operating conditions for online investing
  • Customer relations and online brokers
  • Public offerings and online offer documents - Australia and USA
  • Automated trading systems and electronic communication networks
  • Criminal and civil contraventions in online Investing - Australia and USA
  • Enforcement and liability
  • The future - a choice of: day traders, investor education, CFDs online, corporate governance in cyberspace

Assessment

Short written outline of essay 1000 words 10%
Short class presentation and general class participation 30%
Research essay 5,000 words 60%
  
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Course Texts

Prescribed
Texts and resources for this course will be listed approximately 1 month prior to class commencing.

Recommended
Texts and resources for this course will be listed approximately 1 month prior to class commencing.

Order from UNSW Bookshop

Resources

URL for this page:

© The University of New South Wales (CRICOS Provider No.: 00098G), 2004-2011. The information contained in this Handbook is indicative only. While every effort is made to keep this information up-to-date, the University reserves the right to discontinue or vary arrangements, programs and courses at any time without notice and at its discretion. While the University will try to avoid or minimise any inconvenience, changes may also be made to programs, courses and staff after enrolment. The University may also set limits on the number of students in a course.