Testifying before the US Senate banking committee on September 9, Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo confirmed that the Fed plans to apply “enhanced” liquidity standards to designated non-bank financial companies.

The US Federal Reserve announced on September 30 that it will begin a quantitative impact study to gauge the potential effects of its revised regulatory capital framework on insurance holding companies.

On September 3, US regulators re-proposed rules on uncleared bilateral swaps margins, offering significant concessions compared with their original 2011 proposals.

Sub-prime auto lender Santander Consumer USA has triggered the first stress test enforcement action for breaching a ban by the US Federal Reserve on capital distributions by Santander’s US subsidiaries.

As US concerns grow that the European Commission might not recognise US central counterparties as equivalent under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, a commissioner of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Christopher Giancarlo, has warned international regulators against triggering a 21st century trade war.

Continued distrust of banks’ reported book values have put financial reporting under the spotlight. Charles Piggott reports on the issues worrying analysts and regulators alike.

Publication of the final International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 9) in July has left firms working to calculate their expected loan losses ahead of rules that come into effect on January 1, 2018.

Lloyds Banking Group has agreed to pay $105m to settle charges brought by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

On the same day the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to adopt widespread measures to prevent credit rating conflicts of interest, SEC commissioners also voted unanimously to require greater disclosure of information about the credit quality of underlying loans packaged into asset-backed securities (ABS).

New rules requiring credit rating agencies to demonstrate stronger governance controls, and enhanced transparency and accountability were narrowly approved by a three-to-two majority by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 27.