Graham Bishop.com

This week in "Brussels"

15 January 2009

Articles from 08 January 2009 - 15 January 2009


Graham Bishop: Britain’s eternal vulnerability – Sterling The devaluation of sterling is one of the largest in the past 100 years. An anchor may require the certainty that the current disaster can never happen again. That would point to the abolition of sterling and its replacement by the euro.
10 Years of the Euro – New Perspectives for Britain The report re-launches the campaign for Britain joining the Euro arguing that Britain needs the credibility of membership of the Eurozone to overcome the crises and criticising the British political class as a whole to have failed.
ICMA Regulatory Policy Newsletter - January 2009 The role of financial institutions has been called into question by the crisis, and it will need to communicate its role much more clearly, Tim Skeet argues in his foreword to the Quarterly Assessment.
Report: Empowering the ECB to supervise banks The authors propose the adoption of a choice‐oriented approach to banking supervision by the ECB with member states having the option to choose whether to use the ECB.
OECD - Euro area needs more integrated financial market supervision The Euro area needs more centralised and integrated supervision of banks and financial markets, the OECD says and calls for a single EU-wide supervisor or a central agency to work in conjunction with national supervisors.
EFB Newsletter January 2009 The long-term effects of emergency measures must be assessed, EBF Secretary General Guido Ravoet notes. Maintaining a European playing field is a priority, which only coordination can ensure.
OECD Financial Market Trends - January 2009 This edition focuses on the causes and policy issues raised by the financial market crisis, and contains articles on ageing, pensions and financial markets, as well as on institutional investors’ assets.
Trichet - a paradigm change for the global financial system Financial regulation should be reviewed to better reflect the role of highly leveraged institutions, namely private equity, hedge funds and special purpose vehicles, and of derivatives markets in general, Trichet said.
Bernanke: too-big-to-fail firms violate level playing field among financial institutions In the future, financial firms of any type whose failure would pose a systemic risk must accept especially close regulatory scrutiny of their risk-taking, Bernanke said.
FSA Japan - Newsletter December Topics of the December edition include the partial relaxation of capital adequacy requirement for banks, and the revision of the Basic Policy and Plan for Financial Inspections.
FSA Japan - Newsletter November Issues include the FSA measures for stabilizing the financial markets and for facilitating financing, and an article on the FSA measures the purchases of own stocks and on short-selling.
EPC calls for action on counterfeit cards The EPC released a set of recommendations designed to counteract card skimming at ATMs outlining a set of minimum standards and suggesting the establishment of a certification scheme for independent testing and validation.
Basel Committee broadens mandate of implementation group The mandate of the Accord Implementation Group will be renamed to the Standards Implementation Group (SIG), and will concentrate on implementation of Basel Committee guidance and standards more generally.
Commission consults on review of Prospectus Directive The Commission identified some elements in the Directive that may create in practice unnecessary burdens and unjustified costs for companies and intermediaries, including the definition of qualified investors.
CESR - ERGEG final advice on Third Energy Package ERGEG and CESR recommend that all EU trading platforms publish harmonised post-trade information, on a trade-by-trade basis and close to real-time for standardised supply contracts and derivatives.
CESR published answers on MAD Level 3 consultation CESR published the answers received to its consultation on MAD Level 3 – Third set of CESR guidance.
CEA sets out key issues arising from QIS4 The paper highlights the need for more analysis on the calculation of technical provisions and the calibration of some SCR models.
CEIOPS summary of equalisation provisions survey The survey was conducted by the Financial Requirements Expert Group using a questionnaire drafted to map the use and impact of equalisation provisions in the European Economic Area.
EP adopted UCITS directive Rapporteur Wolf Klinz reminded the fund industry to come up with a valuable proposal on the treatment of fund processing. Otherwise, legislative measures have to discussed, he said.
IASC Foundation consults on IFRS Taxonomy 2009 The IASC announced the release of the near final version of the IFRS Taxonomy 2009 for public comment.
EFRAG draft letter on amendments to IFRS 7 EFRAG believes the IASB should not proceed with the amendments at the pace and with the implementation timetable that is proposed.
EP Plenary meeting 12-15 January Parliament adopted the recast version of the UCITS directive and celebrated the tenth anniversary of the introduction of the Euro, pointing in particular on ist stabilizing role during the crisis.
Commission approves recapitalisation of Anglo Irish Bank The Commission approved the emergency recapitalisation worth €1.5 billion that the Irish authorities intend to grant to Anglo Irish Bank.
Commission overview of national rescue measures and guarantee schemes The Commission issued an update of the overview of national rescue measures and guarantee schemes.
Commission formal proceedings on securities identification numbers The Commission has opened formal proceedings with respect to Standard & Poor's behaviour towards end users of ISINs, for possible breaches of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position.

Graham Bishop: Britain’s eternal vulnerability – Sterling
The devaluation of sterling is one of the largest in the past 100 years. An anchor may require the certainty that the current disaster can never happen again. That would point to the abolition of sterling and its replacement by the euro.

10 Years of the Euro – New Perspectives for Britain
The report re-launches the campaign for Britain joining the Euro arguing that Britain needs the credibility of membership of the Eurozone to overcome the crises and criticising the British political class as a whole to have failed.

ICMA Regulatory Policy Newsletter - January 2009
The role of financial institutions has been called into question by the crisis, and it will need to communicate its role much more clearly, Tim Skeet argues in his foreword to the Quarterly Assessment.

Report: Empowering the ECB to supervise banks
The authors propose the adoption of a choice‐oriented approach to banking supervision by the ECB with member states having the option to choose whether to use the ECB.

OECD - Euro area needs more integrated financial market supervision
The Euro area needs more centralised and integrated supervision of banks and financial markets, the OECD says and calls for a single EU-wide supervisor or a central agency to work in conjunction with national supervisors.

EFB Newsletter January 2009
The long-term effects of emergency measures must be assessed, EBF Secretary General Guido Ravoet notes. Maintaining a European playing field is a priority, which only coordination can ensure.

OECD Financial Market Trends - January 2009
This edition focuses on the causes and policy issues raised by the financial market crisis, and contains articles on ageing, pensions and financial markets, as well as on institutional investors’ assets.

Trichet - a paradigm change for the global financial system
Financial regulation should be reviewed to better reflect the role of highly leveraged institutions, namely private equity, hedge funds and special purpose vehicles, and of derivatives markets in general, Trichet said.

Bernanke: too-big-to-fail firms violate level playing field among financial institutions
In the future, financial firms of any type whose failure would pose a systemic risk must accept especially close regulatory scrutiny of their risk-taking, Bernanke said.

FSA Japan - Newsletter December
Topics of the December edition include the partial relaxation of capital adequacy requirement for banks, and the revision of the Basic Policy and Plan for Financial Inspections.

FSA Japan - Newsletter November
Issues include the FSA measures for stabilizing the financial markets and for facilitating financing, and an article on the FSA measures the purchases of own stocks and on short-selling.

EPC calls for action on counterfeit cards
The EPC released a set of recommendations designed to counteract card skimming at ATMs outlining a set of minimum standards and suggesting the establishment of a certification scheme for independent testing and validation.

Basel Committee broadens mandate of implementation group
The mandate of the Accord Implementation Group will be renamed to the Standards Implementation Group (SIG), and will concentrate on implementation of Basel Committee guidance and standards more generally.

Commission consults on review of Prospectus Directive
The Commission identified some elements in the Directive that may create in practice unnecessary burdens and unjustified costs for companies and intermediaries, including the definition of qualified investors.

CESR - ERGEG final advice on Third Energy Package
ERGEG and CESR recommend that all EU trading platforms publish harmonised post-trade information, on a trade-by-trade basis and close to real-time for standardised supply contracts and derivatives.

CESR published answers on MAD Level 3 consultation
CESR published the answers received to its consultation on MAD Level 3 – Third set of CESR guidance.

CEA sets out key issues arising from QIS4
The paper highlights the need for more analysis on the calculation of technical provisions and the calibration of some SCR models.

CEIOPS summary of equalisation provisions survey
The survey was conducted by the Financial Requirements Expert Group using a questionnaire drafted to map the use and impact of equalisation provisions in the European Economic Area.

EP adopted UCITS directive
Rapporteur Wolf Klinz reminded the fund industry to come up with a valuable proposal on the treatment of fund processing. Otherwise, legislative measures have to discussed, he said.

IASC Foundation consults on IFRS Taxonomy 2009
The IASC announced the release of the near final version of the IFRS Taxonomy 2009 for public comment.

EFRAG draft letter on amendments to IFRS 7
EFRAG believes the IASB should not proceed with the amendments at the pace and with the implementation timetable that is proposed.

EP Plenary meeting 12-15 January
Parliament adopted the recast version of the UCITS directive and celebrated the tenth anniversary of the introduction of the Euro, pointing in particular on ist stabilizing role during the crisis.

Commission approves recapitalisation of Anglo Irish Bank
The Commission approved the emergency recapitalisation worth €1.5 billion that the Irish authorities intend to grant to Anglo Irish Bank.

Commission overview of national rescue measures and guarantee schemes
The Commission issued an update of the overview of national rescue measures and guarantee schemes.

Commission formal proceedings on securities identification numbers
The Commission has opened formal proceedings with respect to Standard & Poor's behaviour towards end users of ISINs, for possible breaches of the EC Treaty's rules on abuse of a dominant market position.

This week in "Brussels"

15 January 2009

© Graham Bishop