WASHINGTON – After digesting the powerful critiques of three high-profile reports on US financial competitiveness, regulators seem to have “got the message,” and to be taking the analysis and many of the proposals with considerable seriousness. In late March, two of the five commissioners at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), making speeches on the same day, provided some indication of the introspection and re-evaluation of regulatory policy now underway in their organisation.

LONDON—Hedge funds move a little nearer the investment mainstream with a new proposal to allow retail financial consumers in Britain to put money into Funds of Alternative Investment Funds (FAIFs). These new, retail-oriented and regulated vehicles will be able to invest in unregulated sectors such as hedge funds and private equity once the proposals announced in consultative paper* in late March by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), Britain’s financial watchdog, get the go-ahead.

JAKARTA – Asia was urged by former top international bank regulator Jaime Caruana to intensify its financial integration, in late March. Among the further reforms needed, he cited the strengthening of corporate governance, an increased role for institutional investors and a raising of corporate transparency and accountability by a move to International Financial Reporting Standard, or IFRS.

BASEL – A taskforce of central bankers and prudential supervisors from North America, Europe and Asia has concluded that the clearing and settlement infrastructure for over-the-counter derivative markets has been “significantly strengthened” since the later 1990s. But more still needs to be done in some areas to reduce systemic risks.

MUMBAI – Revised draft guidelines on the implementation of the Basel II capital rules in India are much more punitive than current capital norms, according to bankers Morgan Stanley.

WASHINGTON – A top supervisor for the US audit industry gave a clear indication in early April that further changes are being contemplated in the implementation rules for the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the controversial 2002 law aimed at curbing corporate fraud. Mark Olson, chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the body created by the Act to supervise accountancy firms that audit public companies, said his staff had already begun to identify potential ways to revise a new accounting standard proposed in December.

LONDON – The long-awaited discussion paper from global accounting rule-makers on how best to value insurance contracts – important to regulators worldwide seeking to assess the solvency of insurance companies – is now definitely expected in May, say sources with the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) in London.

WASHINGTON – Increased international links within and across financial institutions may make financial crises more wide-ranging and complicated to deal with, according to the International Monetary Fund

BRUSSELS – There’s a clear momentum towards accepting International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, as a common financial reporting language throughout the world, but much work remains to be done, according to a top international accounting standard setter.

TOKYO – Mutual recognition of auditor oversight passed a milestone in late March with the first meeting of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators, or IFIAR, which was set up in September to promote international collaboration in the regulation of auditors.