European Commission (EC)
EC looks to tackle unilateral approach to short selling
The EC’s new short-selling rules should reduce unco-ordinated action by national regulators, say dealers
EC finalises OTC rules, leaves key technical items to Esma
Corporate hedgers claim a victory, but details on clearing eligibility and thresholds to be tackled by new authority.
New clearing rules may make CDS prohibitively expensive, traders warn
Buy-side market participants are expecting increased operational costs when new regulation on central clearing of CDS contracts is implemented
Goodhart attacks new European supervisory structure
Academic labels three new watchdogs “a waste and a mistake”; former financial secretary Lord Myners scornful of Basel III
EDHEC-Risk slams France on commodity derivatives regulation
Influential risk management and analytics business school, the EDHEC-Risk Institute, has criticised France for its hardline approach to commodity derivatives market regulation on lack of evidence
MEPs win out on powers for new European supervisory bodies
Pan-European authorities will have the power to impose emergency measures and intervene with financial institutions, after parliamentarians gained ground in compromise agreement
Structured products
Special report
EC prepares new consultation on structured products
A widened scope
France to tighten commodity derivatives regulation
France has warned the European Commission that it will tighten its commodities derivatives regulation to prevent the risk of big swings in commodities prices
Spanish debt office in negotiations on credit support annex thresholds
Government agency looks to alleviate funding costs for bank counterparties in swaps transactions.
Aegon rescue aid contingent on VA hedging programme
EC makes variable annuity hedging a factor in Aegon bailout approval decision
Brokers establish own carbon trading risk tests
Carbon brokers establish their own checks for assessing counterparty risk, following European market authorities’ failure to react to a spate of carbon market fraud.
Payments providers split over Sepa end dates
Comments released by the European Commission show that European institutions and banking associations disagree over Sepa proposals to seperate end dates
EC approves Aegon bailout without forcing coupon deferrment
Absence of measures forcing payments to Dutch state at expense of subordinated debt holders means Fitch upgrades firm's hybrid capital
Singapore bids to be Asian derivatives and clearing hub
Asian migration
Nabucco could be postponed to 2011
Future Western European gas supplies could be at risk, as the Nabucco pipeline, which is designed to relinquish the European Union’s dependence on Russian gas imports, maybe delayed until the start of 2011
Lufthansa wary of OTC regulations
Corporates across the globe have lobbied to ensure end-users are not subjected to new clearing requirements for derivatives. For Lufthansa’s treasury department in Frankfurt, ensuring it is able to continue to hedge its foreign exchange and interest rate…
Scor looks to Solvency II
Philippe Trainar, chief risk officer at Scor, talks to Alexander Campbell
Cesr recommends changes to Mifid revision
New pre-trade transparency requirements for MTFs and ETFs as Cesr moves to a rules-based approach
Central clearing a tricky fix for over-the-counter derivatives
Central clearing might solve some of the problems with over-the-counter derivatives, but it is by no means a straightforward solution, and could raise some additional problems
Cesr pushes electronic confirms for OTC market
European securities regulator suggests electronic confirmation could be mandatory
Industry remains divided over case for EU consolidated tape
EU proposals for fixing the market fragmentation that resulted from the implementation of MIFID has the industry concerned
QIS 5 specifications add complexity
Insurers face greater complexity under EC's final QIS 5 specifications
Interview: UK MP Jonathan Evans on financial regulation
Chair of All Party Group on Insurance and Financial Services says reorganisation of UK regulatory structure is welcome