On August 29–30 2014 the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation in co-operation with the Stockholm Centre for Commercial Law arranged an International legal symposium under the heading “Functional or dysfunctional – the law as a cure? Risks and liability in the financial markets”. The symposium was held in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation.

The topic of the symposium mirrors a particular interest of the activities of the SCCL covering regulatory as well as liability questions thus dealing with legal subjects which have also relevance to the Foundation. After World War II financial markets have gradually undergone huge differences depending on new financial devices, new financial markets and new financial actors evolving together with changes in regulation and supervision. These are circumstances which have together created new frames for the financial industry.

On June 14-15 2012 the Stockholm Centre of Commercial Law arranged a conference on credit rating agencies. Credit rating agencies (CRAs) have during the last several decades had an increasingly more important role in the financial markets. Although credit rating agencies are private entities, their judgments on the credit worthiness of companies, sovereigns, bonds and structured financial products are essential for the financial markets.

The idea of the seminar has been to show the various activities of CRAs, to mirror these activities from various points of view and to elucidate the contractual nature of their involvements also in the light of tort law, and further to discuss the role of new regulations related to the CRAs. 

Traditionellt brukar man i den svenska rättsordningen göra en åtskill-nad mellan den allmänna avtalsrätten och obligationsrätten, där det förra rättsområdet vanligen omfattar spörsmål som är knutna till avtalsingåendet medan det senare hänför sig till genomförande av avta-let.1 Olika infallsvinklar kan väljas för den som vill undersöka avtal och avtalsmekanism i anslutning till en viss bransch, till vissa företeelser etc. Den övergripande fråga som jag nedan ska diskutera rör i vad mån och hur den allmänna avtalsrätten kan påverkas av de särskilda förhål-landen som råder i en speciell bransch, här främst sjöfarten. Man måste emellertid också uppmärksamma att ”sjöfartsbranschen”, eller om man så föredrar ”rederinäringen”, innefattar flera olika segment där förhål-landena varierar. Det blir närmast frågan om en diskussion av vissa företeelser som kan kopplas till rederinäringen i förhållande till den utveckling som skett beträffande användningen av särskilda avtalslös-ningar och avtalstekniker som efter hand utvecklats. jag utgår från förhållandena i svensk rätt, men i flera avseenden är situationen den-samma i de andra nordiska länderna.

Money laundering has developed into a serious problem in international political and business relations. Several steps have been taken to reduce the effects thereof.

Stockholm Centre for Commercial Law arranged an international conference concerning money laundering on Dec. 3 and 4, 2010. Participants from different parts of society (administration, business community, courts and universities) and from Scandinavian countries as well as United Kingdom gathered to discuss various angles of related problems. Most of the speeches which were given at the conference are found in this volume. The texts have also been updated in most cases taken into consideration to some extent the development during 2011.

The aim of the conference was to try to identify the regulation related to money laundering and the changes which have taken place during the last decade and also to illustrate how the present rules which have international as well as European basis influence the activities of banks, lawyers, accountants and other professionals.

I am deeply honoured to have been given the opportunity to participate in this series of Hamburg lectures on maritime affairs. Hamburg and particularly its Max Planck Institute are of great importance to all individuals concerned with private law matters. Of course, maritime law is not only of private law nature as public law aspects play an equally important role.