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EBA Chairman: EU banks to get single rulebook
The FT reports that Andrea Enria, chairman of the European Banking Authority, said the financial crisis had highlighted the weakness of consensual efforts to co-ordinate banking regulation in Europe. View Article

BCBS Report: A critical survey of the literature on the transmission channels between the financial and real sectors
This paper presents a review of the literature on the transmission channels between the financial and the real sectors, as well as observations regarding aspects of the transmission channels that remain inadequately addressed by the existing literature. View Article

OECD paper on the Macroeconomic Impact of Basel III
The OECD paper estimates that the medium-term impact of Basel III implementation on GDP growth is in the range of -0.05 to -0.15 percentage point per year. View Article

CEPS warns that Basel III is too complex
The Centre for European Policy studies (CEPS) has highlighted that the new Basel framework aimed at ensuring that larger, more universal banks hold more capital is becoming too complex. They urge policy-makers to trim off the excesses for the sake of clarity. View Article

Competition Commissioner Almunia: Proposal submitted by the German federal government on the restructuring of WestLB
WestLB is under a restructuring obligation as a result of having received State support since the beginning of the financial crisis, including after a Commission decision of May 2009. View Article

EBF published position paper on systemic risk
In the opinion of the EBF, capital surcharge should not be considered as an option in the systemic risk discussion, owing to the poor set of proxies posed for choosing the institutions inflicted by this, as well as very little firm evidence existing on what constitutes an adequate surcharge. View Article

ECON committee: Consideration of amendments on the own initiative report on Credit Rating Agencies
Rapporteur Klinz (ALDE, DE) informed the committee that 200 amendments had been tabled. He supported the establishment of a politically independent and financially viable European rating agency. View Article

FT: EC proposes incentives to use central clearers
The proposal is outlined in a consultation paper released by the European Commission this week, and is designed to be an incentive for banks to use central counterparties (CCPs) to clear their OTC trades. View Article

Interview with MEP Kay Swinburne on High Frequency Trading
In an exclusive interview for the High Frequency Trading Review, Dr Kay Swinburne stressed MiFID II would be easier to deal with if it were divided up into different areas. View Article

Liquidnet comments on Deutsche Boerse-NYSE Euronext announcement: Implications for institutional investors
Liquidnet stressed that there is little evidence these cross-border deals will provide material benefits to institutional investors beyond some potential reduction in fragmentation. View Article

UK response to the Commission Services' consultation on the Review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
One aspect of MiFID will be critical in enabling the EU to deliver the G20 commitment to increase electronic platform trading of standardised derivatives where appropriate. View Article

FT: UK minister criticises ‘vague’ MiFID proposals
Mark Hoban, financial secretary to the UK Treasury, questioned what Brussels was trying to achieve. “It’s very unclear what will be included in this rather opaque category. Applying a one-size-fits-all regulatory approach to a vague and ill-defined category of facilities clearly makes no sense.” View Article

New report on “The Myths and Realities of Equity Trading in Europe”
An independent report “The Myths and Realities of Equity Trading in Europe” is being published by Market Structure Partners. The aim of this report is to promote a wider understanding of the current state of the European equity market and its evolution which has brought us to the present status quo. View Article

ESBG response to the public consultation on the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
The European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) appreciates the opportunity to comment on the public consultation on the review of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), issued by the European Commission in December 2010. View Article

ISDA’s comment letter on general regulations and DCO
ISDA submits the comments in response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on General Regulations and Derivatives Clearing Organisations in which the CFTC solicited comments on its proposed rules to implement Section 725(c) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. View Article

Financial News: Dodd-Frank gives nod to regulatory turf wars
The text of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act contains some interesting locutions but none more so than the division of swap transactions into “security-based swaps” and “swaps.” View Article

New York Times: SEC proposes rules on derivative prices
“This is an important and complex undertaking which adds a significant new component to the regulatory framework for over-the-counter derivatives,” Mary Schapiro, the SEC’s chairwoman, said in a statement. View Article

FSA Hector Sants: The future of insurance regulation
Sants presented the key regulatory issues facing the UK insurance industry which includes the imminent change to a new pan-European set of regulatory rules (Solvency II) and the change last month to a new European regulatory structure. View Article

EP plenary session: Pension reforms should ensure sustainability and adequate income
Member States must act to ensure that pension schemes can sustainably deliver an adequate income to the EU's growing number of retired people, despite the economic crisis,according to a Parliament resolution adopted in Strasburg. View Article

NAPF welcomes European Parliament's note of caution on EC Green Paper
Joanne Segars said: “The last thing we need is to make pensions more expensive by introducing new rules based on the Solvency II regime. Such rules would work against what the European Commission is trying to achieve and would be damaging to pensions and individuals’ retirement incomes.” View Article

CEA welcomes European Parliament support for review of solvency regime for pension funds
The CEA has long campaigned for the principle of “same risks, same rules” to be applied to the regulations covering life insurers, IORPs and mutual funds offering guaranteed benefits. View Article

EVCA responds to ESMA consultation on AIFMD
European private equity and venture capital industry has asked that implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive safeguards finance for Europe’s companies by observing the principles of fairness and proportionality and ensuring that rules are tailored to meet specific risks. View Article

EFAMA replies to COM consultation on UCITS depositary function and UCITS managers’ remuneration
EFAMA considers that consistency between the UCITS and AIFMD framework is of utmost importance regarding the depositary regime. In particular, EFAMA believes that the same terminology should be used in both Directives to describe equivalent concepts. View Article

AIMA: Global hedge fund industry is not 'un-regulated'
The global hedge fund industry is not ‘un-regulated’ or lightly-regulated. Hedge fund managers are already rigorously regulated in all the main jurisdictions in which they operate, and significant new regulation is being introduced internationally. View Article

EFRP welcomes rejection of Solvency II for IORPs
EFRP chairman, Patrick Burke, said he hoped the European Commission would carefully consider all evidence it was presented with, praising MEPs for drawing clear policy lines. View Article

Commissioner Barnier calls for worldwide adoption of IFRSs
Barnier stressed the need for making progress on convergence because the standards are less useful if they are not used by everyone. View Article

Commission published a summary of contributions to its consultation on audit policy - 'Lessons from the Crisis'
Almost 700 responses were received. It is worth noting that the four biggest audit networks ('Big Four') have each submitted one response on behalf of the whole network. View Article

IASB Foundation plans to open Asia-Oceania liaison office in Tokyo
The IFRS Foundation announced its intention to establish an office in Tokyo for enhanced liaison in the Asia-Oceania region. View Article

EFRAG´s feedback report on Financial Statement Presentation
EFRAG issued a feedback report summarising the views expressed by European constituents during the outreach meetings on Financial Statement Presentation that were organised jointly with the European National Standard Setters between September and December 2010. View Article

FASB and ASB of Japan discussed global governance
Representatives of the Accounting Standards Board of Japan (ASBJ) and the FASB met to continue discussions designed to enhance dialogue between the two Boards in their shared pursuit of global convergence of accounting standards. View Article

APB issued a revision of the auditor's report on financial statements
Richard Fleck, APB Chairman, said: “Investors and other users of annual reports regard the auditor’s involvement with the financial and narrative 'other information' included with the financial statements to be of increasing importance." View Article

FRC welcomed publication of practice to enhance dialogue between auditors and supervisors
The FRC welcomed the publication by the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority of a draft code of practice designed to enhance the dialogue between auditors and supervisors of FSA regulated firms. View Article

FRC chief executive speech to the European Commission Conference on financial reporting and auditing
"Action should be taken to close the expectations gap between what audit does and what users expect from financial statements", said Stephen Haddrill, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, in a speech to the European Commission conference on auditing in Brussels. View Article

Paul Goldschmidt: Flash ECOFIN Council - Another wasted opportunity
Goldschmidt believes that the communiqué by which ECOFIN announced - quasi triumphantly - an agreement on the “amount” of the future “European Permanent Stabilisation Mechanism”, is bound to disappoint the markets and increase instability. View Article

Paul Goldschmidt on the financial crisis: Do not expect any indulgence from markets!
Goldschmidt says that if the recently observed increase in interest rates continues, independently of the negotiating cycle, it is to be feared that its negative impact on the EMU sovereign debt market will take root before adequate solutions are in place to deal with it. View Article

ECOFIN Council discussed the scope of a code of conduct on business taxation
The Council also held a first discussion on a package of legislative measures intended to strengthen economic governance in the EU – and more specifically in the euro area – in order to face up to the challenges posed by the sovereign debt crisis. View Article

Council recommends the nomination of Peter Praet to the executive board of the ECB
The Council adopted a recommendation on the nomination of Peter Praet (Belgium) to succeed Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, whose term of office expires on 31 May. View Article

EFAMA presses European Commission to show greater ambition for Retail Investment Products Regulation
In EFAMA’s view, a level playing field needs to be ensured between different savings products to protect the interests of investors properly, and bring true efficiency to the single European market. View Article

Statement by the EC, ECB and IMF on the third review mission to Greece
The overall assessment is that the programme has made further progress toward its objectives. While there have been delays in some areas, the underlying fiscal and broader reforms necessary to deliver the programme’s medium-term objectives are being put in place. View Article

IMF: Global monetary reforms needed to tackle imbalances
The global recovery should not be an excuse to put reform on the back burner. “Global imbalances are back, with issues that worried us before the crisis — large and volatile capital flows, exchange rate pressures, rapidly growing excess reserves,” IMF Managing Director Strauss-Kahn said. View Article

FT: Jersey and Isle of Man offer tax sop to EU
Jersey and the Isle of Man have resisted pressure on Britain’s crown dependencies to levy corporate tax, announcing minor changes on Tuesday in an effort to neutralise criticism from Brussels of the “harmful” aspects of their regime. View Article

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This week in "Brussels"

17 February 2011

© Graham Bishop