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03 July 2008

This week in "Brussels"




Articles from 26 June 2008 - 03 July 2008

McCreevy - further steps to counter financial turmoil
The Commission will propose a registration and external oversight regime for rating agencies. Also, supervision of cross-border financial groups must be considerably enhanced, McCreevy said and announced to strengthen the role of the 3L3 Committees.   View Article

AMF Prada wants CESR to become “head of a network of market regulators”
The current framework is running into serious limitations and is facing a fundamental challenge that has a major bearing on the credibility of European financial market supervision, Prada said.  View Article

ECB Trichet calls for closer co-operation between supervisors and central banks
Closer co-operation would integrate supervisors’ micro-prudential functions and central banks’ macro-prudential functions in the assessment of possible financial risks and vulnerabilities, ECB President Trichet said.  View Article

UK authorities consult on financial stability and depositor protection
The proposals build on a consultation document published in January and will now be the subject of a further period of consultation, prior to the introduction of legislation in the autumn.  View Article

BIS calls for new macro-financial stability framework
The fundamental cause of today’s problems is excessive and imprudent credit growth over a long period, the BIS says and calls for both monetary and macro-prudential policies to "lean against the wind" of the credit cycle.  View Article

French Presidency Work Programme
The Presidency seeks to reinforce the supervision of cross-border financial groups and will work towards a European passport for fund management companies as part of the amendment of the UCITS Directive. A Commission proposal is expected for July 16.  View Article

Fin-Focus Newsletter No 5
The newsletter focuses, amongst others, on the global financial turmoil and provides an overview about ongoing or upcoming consultations and events.  View Article

ECB Papademos – monetary policy to ‘lean against the wind’
There may be circumstances when the assessment of the potential impact of asset price dynamics on price stability may imply that monetary policy should try to 'lean against the wind' in order to mitigate medium to longer-term risks, Papademos said.   View Article

Treasury Paulson calls for regulatory overhaul
'We need to design carefully and put in place a stronger capacity for resolution and crisis intervention that re-inforces market discipline', Treasury Secretary Paulson said. 'Financial institutions must be allowed to fail'.  View Article

Fed Mishkin - Financial Markets show signs of improvement
Financial markets are showing some tentative signs of revival, Governor Mishkin said. However, it will take a substantial amount of time to complete the cleanup of the financial mess and to get the financial system fully back on its feet, he added.  View Article

SEC proposals to reduce reliance on CRAs
The SEC published for comment the three sets of recommendations to the use in its rules and forms of credit ratings as adopted in June that would reduce undue reliance on credit ratings.  View Article

US Senators demand say in new financial regulation
Any formal agreement among the agencies must not interfere with Congressional efforts to examine the issue, US Senators say, underlining the limited authority to the Fed and the SEC to regulate investment banks with primary dealer status.  View Article

SEC consults on foreign broker activities in US
The proposed amendments would increase the range of services foreign broker-dealers are allowed to offer in the US.   View Article

Fed Board proposes standardized Basel II approach
The rule would implement certain of the less-complex approaches for calculating risk-based capital requirements that are included in the international Basel II capital accord.   View Article

FSA Japan - English translations of core legislation
The FSA published English translations of the Banking Act, the Financial Instruments and the Exchange Act, and the Insurance Business Act.   View Article

CEBS consultation on technical aspects of diversification
The consultation concentrates on the general qualitative environment in which diversification modelling takes place, and on the quantitative approaches that supervisors may consider when assessing firms' own measures of diversification.   View Article

ECB Tumpel-Gugerell – SEPA cards initiatives need further enhancement
Some features of the existing initiatives would need further enhancement, Mrs. Tumpel-Gugerell said, mentioning a clear commitment of EAPS for a future integration, and the involvement of more euro area countries in the Monnet project as examples.  View Article

EPC-GSMA co-operation agreement on mobile payment services
GSMA and the EPC agreed on a cross-industry co-operation that will enable banks to deliver better mobile payments services. The Commission explicitly welcomed the announcement as a way to bringing more competition to the payment services market.  View Article

Finance industry consults on Good Practice Guidelines
The paper sets out proposed guidance for the implementation of the securitisation disclosure requirements in the CRD and are part of the 'Ten Industry Initiatives' to increase transparency in the European securitisation markets.  View Article

IOSCO pilot exercise for identifying strategic priorities
To consider ways to reduce the complexity of its own decision making process, IOSCO conducted a pilot exercise to develop a framework for improving the process of selecting issues to be addressed.   View Article

EBF - No merit of European public CRA
The EBF doubts that formal regulation would have made a difference in the recent market events and recommends focusing more on the monitoring and implementation of the IOSCO Code of Conduct.  View Article

MEP Skinner: Solvency II - The next steps
Some 800 amendments are registered on the Commission proposal. However, the rapporteur is optimistic in finding agreements on open issues such as ‘surplus funds’ and ‘group support’.  View Article

Code of Conduct on disclosure in the ABCP Market
The asset-backed commercial paper market in Europe proposes to adopt a Code of Conduct on disclosure as a standard of best practice to ensure that investors have timely access to information through different sources.   View Article

AMF Regulation and Asset Management Newsletter
Asset management regulation at European and global levels has reached a watershed, AMF Managing Director Reynier said and outlined that the forthcoming UCITS proposal is expected to include a European private placement regime.  View Article

Czech Republic and Slovakia eye pension reforms
The Czech parliament approved changes to the pension system and Slovakia is planning to alter its private pension investment rules following pressure from the Commission, IPE reports.  View Article

Commission appoints new members of European Corporate Governance Forum
The Commission has appointed the members for the next term of office of the ECGF. Members are appointed for three years.   View Article

IFRIC guidance on hedges of a net investment in a foreign operation
IFRIC 16 states that the presentation currency does not create an exposure to which an entity may apply hedge accounting. The hedging instruments may be held by any entity or entities within the group.   View Article

IFRIC issues clarification on agreements for the construction of real estate
The Interpretation provides guidance on how to determine whether an agreement for the construction of real estate is within the scope of IAS 11 or IAS 18.  View Article

EBF comments on accounting related issues of the Financial Crisis
To avoid possible pro-cyclical effects the EBF proposes to modify the valuation techniques in illiquid markets within the framework of IAS 39.   View Article

EFRAG strong reservations against DP on ‘Financial Instruments with Characteristics of Equity’
The paper lacks a discussion as to the purpose of distinguishing between equity and liability, EFRAG criticizes. Simplicity is not an end itself, it states.  View Article

EFRAG Annual Review 2007
Europe experiences increasing criticism of the IASB and of IFRS from within the EU, Chairman Göran Tidström said. The main concerns were the lack of democratic involvement and insufficient European influence, he underlines.   View Article

EFRAG Update June 2008
The June edition summarises the discussions held at the EFRAG TEG meetings. Issues include the Credit Crunch and the IASB/FASB Memorandum of Understanding.   View Article

June 2008
Graham Bishop's Personal Overview. The torrent of analyses about the causes of the financial turmoil is abating and giving way to concrete policy proposals. But the speed of broad reactions remains disturbing – though understandable from a political perspective. But it takes time to work  View Article

ECON meeting 30 June
ECON held an exchange of views with Commissioner Joaquín Almunia. Rates of inflation could be expected to continue at a similar level over the months ahead before beginning to level off, he said.   View Article




© Graham Bishop


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