BRUSSELS, Belgium, February 19 – The meeting of European Union finance ministers (Ecofin) continued negotiations over the creation of a single bank resolution mechanism (SRM) for the eurozone this week, but the technical challenges appear to be multiplying. The initial draft of the SRM proposal agreed by Ecofin in December 2013 met with heavy criticism from the European Parliament.

Trade finance gets a reprieve, while repo and derivative netting will be recognised under certain conditions By Charles Piggott

EU ministers have agreed a potentially far-reaching revamp of financial markets. But a mammoth task of detailed rulemaking lies ahead By Melvyn Westlake

Plans to identify systemic non-bank non-insurance institutions may apply to only a handful of firms and do little to curb risks By Philip Alexander

Doubts about impact of European Commission’s proposed “too big to fail” reforms on the cohesion of a single market By Philip Alexander

Banking regulator and State Council have circulated draft proposals to tighten controls on non-bank credit By Philip Alexander

Industry calls for greater focus on ‘most-used numbers’ in financial reporting By Charles Piggott

A selection of news items generated by the American regulatory reform agenda

Revisions to Basel ratios highlight disagreements over the role of monetary authorities in insuring bank liquidity By Philip Alexander

BRUSSELS – A plenary vote of the European Parliament confirmed by 441 votes to 141 the mandate of parliamentary negotiators in trialogue discussions with the European Commission and Council over the creation of a single resolution mechanism (SRM). Parliamentary negotiators, led by Elisa Ferreira, had previously rejected the Council’s proposed SRM governance as unwieldy and granting too much power to national authorities (see cover story in last GRR).