Follow Us

Follow us on Twitter  Follow us on LinkedIn
 
Home>
Print Page Save to My Library <Next Article  Previous Article>
25 February 2010

This week in "Brussels" + Podcast

Listen to Podcast


  Jump directly to
Financial Services Policy Banking Securities
Asset Management Corporate Governance/Accounting Competition: Financial Services
Edited Minutes of key legislative Bodies Financial stability - policy analysis About this email

  Articles from 18 February 2010 - 25 February 2010

  Financial Services Policy

 
 
 
ECON Committee wants bigger transfer of powers for European supervisory agencies
All four EP rapporteurs questioned the Council compromise that emerged from December's Ecofin meeting. The safeguard clause protecting member states' fiscal powers, which the rapporteurs consider over-restrictive, was the major bone of contention.  View Article
 
ECON Committee: stronger European economic governance and tougher rules for Stability Pact
Referring to Greece, the Committee said it should serve as a lesson when future enlargements to the eurozone are being planned. It also asked for particular attention to be paid to the quality of the statistics of the aspiring eurozone countries.  View Article
 
European Liberal Leader calls for EP to investigate Greek debt crisis
Guy Verhofstadt has recommended that the relevant EP committees invite the ECB, Euro group, European Commission, Eurostat, the Greek authorities and representatives from the investment banks to give evidence at a public hearing to clarify the situation.  View Article
 
ECON Committee: financial transaction tax needed to pay for damage caused by crisis
If a worldwide tax proves unachievable, the MEPs said, the EU could consider going it alone. ECON is urging the Commission and Council to look at how the tax could be used to help developing countries fund the fight against climate change and to finance development cooperation.  View Article
 
AFME-EHYA response to UK Treasury discussion paper on non-bank lending
They believe that the most important measure policymakers could take to increase non-bank lending would be to remove current UCITS III restrictions on loan investment so that long-only investors, such as insurance companies, can invest in loans.  View Article
 
González-Páramo: Future of European and international financial market regulation and supervision
The financial crisis has served as a rough reminder that, although financial integration improves access to financial markets and opportunities for risk diversification, it may also increase the scope for financial contagion across countries.  View Article
 
Nicolas Véron: Financial Regulation: A new fortress Europe?
Véron concludes that financial regulation is not uniformly incompatible with international integration, and where it is, some external barriers may be an inevitable price to pay. But the corresponding trade-offs should be clearly acknowledged. Europe’s leaders have hard choices ahead to make.   View Article
 
SEC approves short selling restrictions
These measures are intended to promote market stability and preserve investor confidence. "Short selling can potentially have both a beneficial and a harmful impact on the market," said SEC Chairman Schapiro.   View Article
 
Japan FSA: proposal of corporate governance disclosure items
The Japanese FSA is proposing amendments relating to the disclosure of new items concerning corporate governance. These relate to corporate governance structure, directors’ and statutory auditors’ remuneration, and cross-shareholding.  View Article
 
OECD: Australia - an example of good financial regulation
Australia has been one of the most successful OECD countries to weather the Global Financial Crisis. Mature regulatory settings and a strong fiscal position have worked in her favour; she was among the few OECD countries not to go into recession.  View Article
 

 
  Banking

 
 
 
ECON Committee: first exchange of views on cross-border crisis management in banking sector
Rapporteur for this dossier, Ferreira (PT/S&D), presented her proposals and said there is “no silver bullet” to resolve this polemic issue. She emphasized that the ”Resolution Agency” will be a key element for dealing with the insolvency of cross-border institutions.  View Article
 

 
  Securities

 
 
 
French Finance Minister: 2010 MiFID revision an opportunity to improve transparency
Christine Lagarde met with key professionals from the financial services sector to discuss France’s position on the imminent MiFID review. She said the increased regulation of the financial system is at the heart of the G20 agenda and that the MiFID review should embrace the G20’s goals.   View Article
 
EP publishes OTC draft report
Rapporteur Werner Langen broadly endorsed the EC’s proposals and recommended that CCPs and their risk management systems should not be owned by users. Published in German, it was tabled for discussion at the ECON Committee on 22 February, but is now postponed until 8 March.   View Article
 
IOSCO publishes principles for periodic disclosure by listed entities
The report includes a set of recommendations for disclosures that could be provided in the periodic reports, particularly annual reports, of listed entities whose securities are listed or admitted to trading on a regulated market in which retail investors participate.  View Article
 

 
  Asset Management

 
 
 
EC publishes report on cross-border venture capital in EU
European venture capital markets remain fragmented and their potential is not yet fully exploited. Venture capital funds have to deal with separate registration and different tax treatments when investing in other member states. This impedes them from specialising, diversifying and growing.   View Article
 
ECON Committee: first consideration of AIFMD amendments
AIFMD rapporteur Jean Paul Gauzès (FR/EPP) made clear he wants to stick to the ambitious timetable and continue working on a first reading agreement with the Council before the summer. He said that, in terms of scope, the directive should be as broad as possible.  View Article
 
IOSCO publishes systemic risk data requirements template for hedge funds
Its purpose is to enable the collection and exchange of consistent and comparable data among regulators and other competent authorities to facilitate international supervisory cooperation in identifying possible systemic risks in the sector.   View Article
 
AIMA concurs with FSA key findings on hedge fund systemic risk
AIMA agrees with the FSA hedge fund survey on the issue that there is no single definition of leverage. That is why AIMA believes the AIFMD proposal to limit leverage would be difficult to implement.  View Article
 
FSA: report on assessing possible sources of systemic risk from hedge funds
The FSA’s analysis revealed no clear evidence to suggest that any individual fund posed a significant systemic risk to the financial system during 2009. However, this position could change and future surveys will be an important tool in identifying emerging risks.  View Article
 

 
  Corporate Governance/Accounting

 
 
 
IFAC global survey: international standards crucial to investor and financial stability
It lists accountants’ top priorities, including the need to increase confidence in international standards and urging the G20 not to place unreasonable burdens on small and medium-sized enterprises through new regulations.  View Article
 
EFRAG: costs and benefits analysis of Amendment to IFRS1 (First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards)
EFRAG claims the Amendment does not benefit users directly. However, the relief is a means of enabling entities to adopt the enhanced disclosures as soon as possible - a benefit to users in the current economic climate.   View Article
 
EFRAG: comments on IASB's ED Measurement of Liabilities in IAS 37
EFRAG does not support the measurement model proposed in the IASB’s ED. It believes that a case has not yet been made to justify how the proposed changes are likely to improve the decision-usefulness of financial information about liabilities.   View Article
 

 
  Competition: Financial Services

 
 
 
State aid: EC takes Greece to court for failure to recover illegal tax exemptions
To re-establish the situation prior to the granting of the aid, the EC’s decision required Greece to immediately and effectively recover the incompatible aid, including interest, from its beneficiaries. To date, Greece has not recovered the aid.  View Article
 

 
  Financial stability - policy analysis

 
 
 
BIS: report on future of public debt, prospects and implications
This presents an analysis of the recent build-up of public debt. It presents a forward-looking examination of the public debt trajectories in industrial countries and discusses the challenges posed to fiscal and monetary authorities by possible future debt levels.   View Article
 
ACI: liquidity and stability - or taxation and changing the whole financial system?
The President of ACI is calling for more responsibility and rational thinking in the current debate on financial transaction tax. In Manfred Wiebogen’s view, what the markets now need is trust, but trust was lost in 2008 when Lehman was allowed to collapse.   View Article
 
ECRI: can bundled and tied financial products harm consumer welfare?
The European Credit Research Institute newsletter includes an article on whether bundled and tied financial products can harm consumer welfare. It also contains news on regulatory affairs and recent developments in Europe and the US.   View Article
 
Andrew Haldane: the debt hangover
The Executive Director of Financial Services at the Bank of England said that the financial system has been more stable over the past six months, but that some of the root causes of the crisis, including an accumulation of debt, remain. The “debt hangover” deeply affects the financial system.  View Article
 
BIS paper: systemic risk - how to deal with it?
The paper considers appropriate policies for reducing systemic risk. It examines systemic risk as a negative externality in two dimensions: cross-sectional and time. It concludes that financial regulatory policies are not enough to address systemic risk.  View Article
 

 

 


© Graham Bishop

< Next Previous >
Key
 Hover over the blue highlighted text to view the acronym meaning
Hover over these icons for more information


Add new comment





 


www.grahambishop.com
// Business Applications by Denaploy 		Web Master Information
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy