WASHINGTON DC - Three US industry associations have come together to ask US rule makers to reconsider ‘excessive’ proposals for a supplementary leverage ratio (SLR).

LONDON - In a bid to shake up the UK payments system, the UK Treasury announced last month it would create a new regulator to oversee the country’s £17bn-a-year non-cash payments industry. The new Payments Systems Regulator (PSR), pending an official name, will have a remit of opening up competition and dealing with payments monopolies that prevent entry of new players. The objective is to promote “payment innovation, quality and efficiency”.

NICE, France - The EDHEC-Risk Institute, an academic research institute focused on the fund management industry, has weighed into the growing debate triggered by the Libor scandal.

LONDON - Basel III and the anticipation of new creditor bail in rules have prompted a surge in bank issuance of subordinated debt and hybrids in the first nine-months of 2013 according to Fitch Ratings.

WASHINGTON DC – The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved new proposals on trading position limits on November 5, limiting firms’ trading positions in 28 commodities ranging from oil to orange juice. In a 3-1 vote in favour, the commissioners approved proposals.

LONDON - The head of the UK Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA), Andrew Bailey, used a speech to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) to defend the announcement of new conditions for authorising Chinese banks in the UK. The speech followed UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s announcement during a trade mission to China that the PRA was prepared to consider allowing Chinese banks to operate wholesale activities as branches in the UK, rather than as fully incorporated subsidiaries.

MUMBAI – The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a framework for the setting up of wholly-owned subsidiaries (WOS) by foreign banks in India on 6 November. According to the RBI, subsidiaries will be “given near national treatment which will enable them to open branches anywhere in the country at par with Indian banks (except in certain sensitive areas where the Reserve Bank’s prior approval would be required). They would also be able to participate fully in the development of the Indian financial sector.”

LONDON – The Group of 30, a consultative group on international economic and monetary affairs composed of policy-makers, private sector participants and academics, recommended a “new paradigm” in relations between bank supervisors and the boards of directors of major banking groups. The report was produced by a working group chaired by Roger Ferguson, a former US Federal Reserve vice-chairman who is now the chief executive of TIAA-CREF, an asset manager and pension fund provider for US education and medical professionals with $542bn assets under management.

LONDON – The European Banking Authority (EBA) published draft definitions for the supervisory reporting of non-performing exposures and forbearance – the modification of the terms and conditions of a contract or its refinancing, granted to a counterparty in financial difficulties. These definitions will form part of the European Union’s capital requirements regulation (CRR) and are intended to enter force in September 2014.

BRUSSELS – A full forum of the Vienna Initiative, a multilateral-led group of policy-makers and market participants focused on the banking sector in central and eastern Europe (CEE), called for close cooperation between the region and the emerging EU single supervisory mechanism (SSM). The Vienna Initiative was launched in 2009, to respond to the risk of sharp capital and liquidity outflows from CEE countries, many of which have banking sectors that are dominated by Western European cross-border groups.