The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published new guidance on the regulation and supervision of commodity derivatives markets. The move follows the G20’s November 2010 request for further work on regulation and supervision of physical commodity derivatives markets, with the new principles adding to the existing guidance in the 1997 Tokyo Communiqué. Aimed [...]
In its final report, the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) recommends the separation of retail banking and wholesale/investment banking on the basis that structural separation should make it easier and less costly to resolve banks that get into trouble. The report argues that one of the key benefits of separation is that creditors would be [...]
Regulatory reforms now underway will negatively impact the global economy at a time when growth in the US, Japan and in Western Europe is already disappointingly weak. The warning comes from the Institute of International Finance (IIF), whose chairman, Deutsche Bank’s Josef Ackermann, emphasises the IIF’s strong support of key financial reform measures, such as [...]
“A chorus of concerned bankers and business people is now warning about the consequences to economic growth of further uncosted regulatory change”, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) warns. The Association is asking policy makers to be “acutely aware” of the dangers of further increasing the cost of banking at a time when government priorities should [...]
The European Securities and Markets Association (ESMA) has announced that Belgium, France, Italy and Spain are putting in place new bans on short-selling, or on short positions, from today. The countries are responding to recent volatile markets, which ESMA says have raised concerns for regulators across the European Union. Short-selling involves traders selling shares in [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published its proposals for Recovery and Resolution Plans (RRP), for consultation. On recovery plans, the regulator wants financial firms to produce: A sufficient number of material and credible options to cope with a range of scenarios including both distinctive and market wide stresses. Options which address capital shortfalls, liquidity [...]
Lloyds Banking Group has revealed that the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) promised report on the near-collapse of HBOS will focus on activities at Bank of Scotland’s corporate division, pre-2009. The regulator commenced a supervisory review of HBOS in 2009 but last month FSA chairman, Lord Turner, told MPs that a report on the developments that [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has charged Thomas Ammann, a former investment banker with Mizuho International, with three counts of insider dealing and two counts of encouraging insider dealing. In addition, Christina Weckwerth, who lives in Germany, has been charged with two counts of insider dealing and Jessica Mang has been charged with one count [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has plans to follow its long-awaited report into failures at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with a report into the near-collapse of HBOS. Failures at HBOS have so far resulted in an FSA enforcement investigation which is on going. However, in a recent letter to Andrew Tyrie MP, chairman [...]
The Commons Treasury Committee is calling on the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to delay the introduction of new rules on the provision of financial advice, for 12 months. MPs want to allow advisers more time to comply with the the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), despite backing plans to ban commission on advised sales and impose [...]
London Stock Exchange (LSE) has announced that its transaction reporting service, UnaVista, is now approved to report all exchange traded derivatives using the Alternative Instrument Identifier (Aii). The announcement follows the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA’s) deadline of 13th November 2011 for mandatory reporting of exchange traded derivatives, using Aii. UnaVista clients will be able to [...]
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) would appear to have extended the scope of its investigations into the near collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). According to a report in The Guardian, the regulator is including the group’s acquisition in 2004 of US bank, Charter One, in its long-awaited report. RBS’s aggressive expansion strategy in [...]
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) paid out £535 million in compensation in 2010/11 and delivered faster payouts to depositors, according to its annual report. During the period, the Scheme received around 39,500 new claims, an increase of 25% on the previous 12 month period, while total enquiries rose 75% to 167,600. The body resolved [...]
The Financial Services Authority has been asked to ensure that banks’ liquidity management takes proper account of any maturity mismatches associated with using exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as sources of funding, a senior Bank of England official has revealed. Addressing the British Bankers’ Association conference yesterday, the Bank’s deputy governor financial stability, Paul Tucker, said the [...]
