Let's have a look at some key regulatory bodies, starting with the USA. And the USA is a little bit special in the sense that depending on your function, you will have a different main regulator. If you're a bank, and mainly involved in the lending, and borrowing of money, standard banking, you're most likely to be regulated directly by the Federal Reserve System. The Fed, the Central Bank of the USA. The Fed is supported by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the OOC, which mainly deals with the soundness of the National Banking System. It deals with fostering competition in the system. It tries to ensure fair access to banking for all Americans, and it works against money laundering, and terror financing. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the FDIC, insures depositors in America against losses in case of bank bankruptcies. On top of that, you will have state banking agencies involved in regulation of the financial services industry as well as other agencies. And those other agencies mainly deal with customer protection, and the prevention of financial crime. If you're involved in securities and investments, traditionally the area of normal investment banks, you're more likely to be regulated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, supported by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the FINRA. And finally, if you're involved in derivatives, you're most likely to be regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC. Why is it called commodities? Well, derivatives originated pretty much in the commodities industry, and the name has stuck.

Well internationally, it's a little bit simpler in the sense that usually you will have the central bank supported by main financial services regulator. So for example, in the United Kingdom, the Bank of England is the central bank, and the Financial Conduct Authority deals with financial regulation. In Germany, you have the German Federal Bank, the Deutsche Bundesbank, supported by, and this is my favorite, say after me now, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht. Well, luckily for us, that's abbreviated BaFin. Of course, the European Union is an extremely important entity. You have the European Central Bank doing the central banking supported by the European Banking Authority, the EBA. Worth mentioning as well in Europe, of course, is the ESMA, E-S-M-A, the European Securities and Markets Authority. That deals with investor protection, and tries to promote a stable, and orderly financial market in the EU. In Japan, you have the Bank of Japan, supported by the Financial Services Agency, and in China, just for your reference, you have the People's Bank of China, supported by the China Banking Regulatory Commission.