Updated for 2026: International Finance: Policy, Regulation, and Transactions provides a framework for analyzing the policy issues that shape the modern global financial system.
New! Updated for 2026
This version of International Finance is a comprehensive reissue of the program. Every module has been newly recorded by Professor Hal S. Scott, every set of lecture slides has been rebuilt to reflect developments through the first quarter of 2026, and every practitioner interview is new.
A clear understanding of how the global financial system works and how it is regulated is essential for success in finance-related roles. International Finance: Policy, Regulation, and Transactions (IF) provides an overview of fundamentals and emerging policy issues, as well as timely reflections on current events facing the global financial system. These insights are critical for financial professionals, lawyers, and policy makers who wish to advance in their careers.
Delivered through 10 video modules, the program:
Covers the financial system of each major market – the United States, the European Union, Japan, and China
Addresses the principal subjects in financial regulation, including capital and liquidity, securities markets, banking markets, derivatives, asset management, and fintech.
Each of the ten modules consists of recorded lectures by Professor Scott, a recorded interview with a senior policymaker or market practitioner with direct expertise in the module’s topic, and supplemental materials and a curated reading list. Participants may access the modules on their own schedule.
This updated version of International Finance reflects current developments through the first quarter of 2026, including the 2023 banking crisis and the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, the 2025 and 2026 federal banking capital and stress-test reforms, the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, the rise of prediction markets, the 2025 EU Savings and Investments Union, and U.S.-China and EU-U.S. trade tensions.
List of Module Topics and Featured Guests
Each module consists of recorded lectures by Professor Scott, supplemented by an interview with a senior policymaker or market practitioner addressing a specific issue raised in the lecture.
Class 1: Introduction
Topics: Systemic risk; 2008 financial crisis; Federal Reserve’s lender-of-last-resort function under Section 13(3); Financial Stability Board.
Featured guest interview: Randy Quarles, Chairman & Founder, The Cynosure Group; former Vice Chair for Supervision, Federal Reserve Board; former Chairman of the Financial Stability Board.
Class 2: Capital and Liquidity
Topics: Bank capital adequacy & Basel III; Basel III Endgame proposal; CCAR stress testing; bank liquidity requirements & living wills.
Featured guest interview: Miki Bowman, Vice Chair for Supervision and Regulation, Federal Reserve Board.
Class 3: U.S. Capital Markets
Topics: SEC rulemaking under Atkins compared with Gensler; SPACs; private equity capital market & 401(k) access; Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404.
Featured guest interview: Paul S. Atkins, Chairman, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Class 4: U.S. Banking Markets
Topics: 2023 banking crisis & the failure of Silicon Valley Bank; activity limitations under Glass-Steagall, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and the Volcker Rule; resolution under Orderly Liquidation Authority; deposit insurance reform.
Featured guest interview: Travis Hill, Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Class 5: E.U. Single Market and Euro
Topics: 2025 rebranding of Capital Markets Union as the Savings and Investments Union; Single Resolution Mechanism; Credit Suisse failure & UBS rescue; Brexit & financial services.
Featured guest interview: David Wright, Chairman, Eurofi; former Secretary General, IOSCO.
Class 6: Japanese Financial System
Topics: Abenomics & end of negative interest rates; 2022–2023 Tokyo Stock Exchange corporate governance reforms; Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s economic policy agenda; Japanese policy on stablecoins, digital assets, and AI.
Featured guest interview: Kentaro Tamura, Deputy Director General, Financial System and Examination Department, Bank of Japan.
Class 7: Chinese Financial System
Topics: 2023 overhaul of China’s financial regulatory regime; Stock Connect & Shanghai STAR Market; shadow banking; CFIUS & U.S.-China decoupling under Trump 2.0.
Featured guest interview: Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund; former Deputy Governor, People’s Bank of China.
Class 8: OTC Derivatives
Topics: Interest rate, FX, & credit default swaps; Dodd-Frank Title VII; central clearing & CCP loss waterfalls; event-prediction markets & the rise of Kalshi.
Featured guest interview: Michael Selig, Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Class 9: Asset Management
Topics: Investment Company Act of 1940; index & passive funds and the Big Three; common ownership & antitrust concerns; ETFs & payment for order flow.
Featured guest interview: Barbara Novick, Co-Founder and Senior Advisor, BlackRock; former Vice Chair, BlackRock.
Class 10: Fintech
Topics: Stablecoins & GENIUS Act; crypto-asset market structure & CLARITY Act; central bank digital currencies & asset tokenization; AI in finance.
Featured guest interview: Heath Tarbert, President, Circle; former Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Participants will also have the opportunity to engage with Professor Scott during live virtual sessions on current events affecting the global financial system, scheduled in the coming year.
International Finance: Policy, Regulation, and Transactions provides a framework for understanding how the global financial system works and how it is regulated. Participants will develop an understanding of the regulatory framework and policy purpose of global banking regulation, global securities regulation, and emerging issues in derivatives, asset management, and fintech, among other topics.
Course topics include:
Global banking and capital markets
Banking regulation
Securities regulation
The EU single market and the euro
The Japanese financial system
The Chinese financial system
OTC derivatives
Asset management
Fintech, including stablecoins, crypto-asset market structure, central bank digital currencies, and asset tokenization
Participants will receive access to all lecture slides for the modules upon completion of the program, together with a curated reading list with links to current international finance research and primary-source materials.
Upon successful completion, participants earn a Harvard Law School Executive Education certificate of completion, signed and delivered as a Certified Electronic Certificate. To earn the certificate, a participant must complete a multiple-choice assessment for each module. Participants who do not complete the assessments may still access all course materials and video modules.
THE LEARNING MODEL
International Finance: Policy, Regulation, and Transactions is composed of ten self-paced modules and live virtual sessions on current policy issues.
Each module includes:
Recorded video lectures by Professor Hal S. Scott
A recorded interview with the module’s featured guest
A reading list and supplemental materials
Live sessions provide an opportunity for participants to ask questions of the program’s faculty.
Total program time of this self-paced course is approximately 20 hours. Participants have one year from the date of access to complete the program.
PARTICIPANTS
This course is designed for those who require a working understanding of the policy framework for the global financial system. The program content is applicable to both U.S.-based and international audiences.
The program will benefit the following individuals, at all seniority levels:
Lawyers in law firms and in-house legal departments
Policymakers and regulators
Financial sector professionals
Graduate students with related coursework or work experience may also benefit from the program.
ADMISSIONS
The application includes one short answer question: “Please describe why this course is relevant to you.”
Accepted participants will gain access to the course within two business days after payment is received.
There are no refunds for this program once you have accessed the course.
Visit the Admissions page for additional information on the process.
FACULTY
The program is taught by Hal S. Scott, Emeritus Nomura Professor of International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School (HLS). Professor Scott is also the Chairman and President of the Program on International Financial Systems (PIFS) as well as the President and Director of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation (CCMR). His HLS courses were on Capital Markets Regulation, International Finance, the Payment System and Securities Regulation. He is currently an adjunct Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where he teaches Capital Market Regulation.
Harvard is authorized to offer distance education under the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), an agreement that allows institutions of higher education in Massachusetts to offer distance education to students residing in other states that participate in SARA. For information about SARA-related student complaint processes for distance education students, please see https://vpal.harvard.edu/nc-sara.
