The 1935 Belgian Banking Control System Inspired by the Swiss Model : a Discrete Policy Transfer ? ; La surveillance bancaire belge de 1935 façonnée sur le modèle suisse: un discret transfert de politique publique ?

Open Access

Abstract

International audience Following the severe financial crisis that shook most of Western societies in the early 1930s, a strong shift towards state regulation on banking activities took place in numerous countries. Among them, both Belgium and Switzerland undertook the implementation of banking laws. More precisely, the Swiss Federal Banking Law of November 1934 was enacted a few months before the Belgian Royal Decree Nr. 185 of July 1935. While the historical context and the development of each of these regulations have been studied individually, a comparative perspective is still lacking. Moreover, the question of the possible links between these two regulatory regimes remains largely unexplored. A detailed analysis of the Belgian banking regulation process shows that the Swiss law acted as a role model, put forward by the representatives of the banking circles. The Swiss influence played a significant part in shaping the banking regulation in a liberal perspective ; thus meeting two essential needs for the Belgian bankers : to limit state intervention to a minimum, and to bypass the authority of the central bank. This relationship between banking laws finds its counterpart in the activities of the two supervision agencies set up in the 1930s, the ' Commission fédérale des banques' in Berne and the ' Commission bancaire' in Brussels. Both bodies featured limited means of actions and experienced similar paths during their first years of operation. ; Suite aux graves crises bancaires et financières qui ont secoué la plupart de sociétés occidentales au début des années 1930, on assiste à un foisonnement de réglementations publiques sur les activités bancaires. Parmi les très nombreux pays qui mettent en place des législations bancaires, l'on compte notamment la Suisse et la Belgique. Plus précisément, la loi fédérale suisse sur les banques de novembre 1934 précède de quelques mois l'arrêté royal belge n° 185 de juillet 1935. Alors que le contexte historique et l'élaboration respective de chacune de ces ...