Regulation/Foreign exchange
UK banks respond to Cebs criticism
The British Bankers' Association says its members should be able to speed up disclosure and supervisory reporting, after European regulators criticised the delayed and obscure reports issued by many European banks.
Regulators review short-selling restrictions
Regulators from across the globe continue to review and adjust short-selling restrictions.
Steering solvency
Regulator Q&A
Obama administration favours a single banking regulator
Daily news headlines
Sheikh Yamani: Saudi Arabia unlikely to embrace oil futures
In an interview this week, former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Yamani told Energy Risk that futures trading on exchanges had turned the global crude oil market into a "casino".
PPIP banks may be able to buy rivals' toxic assets
The US Treasury's behind-schedule Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP) could face difficulty in attracting banks to participate in the scheme, while policymakers are considering whether to allow banks to buy each other's assets.
IASB proposes simplifying fair-value measurement
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has sought to simplify its standards on fair-value measurement, bringing International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) further into line with US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (Gaap).
FSA stress tests banks for four-year downturn
Banks in the UK must stress test their capital levels against a "worst-case" recession more severe than any since World War II, the Financial Services Authority revealed today.
EU overhaul of financial supervision raises questions
Ambitious plans laid out by the European Commission to revamp the supervisory framework of the European financial markets have raised concerns about the possible implications of creating new supervisory bodies.
FDIC taps insured banks for funds as reserves dwindle
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is to levy an additional five-basis-point special assessment charge on depository institutions at the end of the third quarter to boost its fast-dwindling deposit insurance fund (DIF).
CESR: Rating agencies still not following rules on structured products
The major credit rating agencies are broadly compliant with the code of conduct recommended by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (Iosco), but are still failing to tighten the rules on structured product ratings, according to…
Audit finds OTS helped banks cook their books
The US Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), the financial regulator responsible for overseeing mortgage lenders such as Washington Mutual and IndyMac, helped several institutions break accounting rules by backdating capital contributions last year to…
Why the regional Federal Reserve banks are up in arms
A number of presidents of regional Federal Reserve banks and senior staff have recently expressed dissent from the official line taken by the US authorities in managing the banking crisis.
Isda to review collateral dispute process
The derivatives industry is working towards formalising the resolution process for collateral disputes after existing resolution methods proved inadequate during the financial crisis.
FSA bans second Morgan Stanley trader
The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has banned David Redmond after he put on a large unauthorised oil futures trade while on Morgan Stanley's freight desk in London in February last year.
US municipal market faces clean-up under new rules
The municipal bond market in the US is still largely in a state of disarray, well over a year after the collapse of the auction rate securities (ARS) sector, though signs of recovery are visible in the fixed-rated debt market, congressmen have heard.
RBS and Sip Nordic storm UK IFA market
Royal Bank of Scotland has partnered with Sip Nordic to launch a new series of dynamically managed structured products into the UK independent financial adviser (IFA) market. The investments will be sold by a 25-strong sales force working across the…
Q&A: EC official "optimistic" on central clearing deadline
Mario Nava, head of the financial markets infrastructure unit at the European Commission in Brussels, updates Risk on progress towards central clearing of credit default swaps (CDSs) and the move towards a central trade repository for over-the-counter…
Stress-test success masks bigger problem with banks
The US government's bank stress tests appear to have been successful in stabilising financial markets, but some market observers believe they are obscuring broader systemic problems and could hamper efforts to deal with toxic assets.