LONDON – The EU’s 50 largest banks would need an additional €263 billion ($350 bn) of Tier 1 common equity, in aggregate, to reach the new Basel III target ratio of 7%, if the new rules for higher and better-quality capital were to be implemented in full today. That is one key result of a quantitative impact study (QIS) of the Basel Committee’s proposed reforms to strengthen banks’ resilience to crises, undertaken by European supervisors.

ZURICH – A glaring deficiency in the Swiss central bank’s armoury must be eliminated by improving the tools available to it for protecting financial stability, the bank’s vice chairman said in December.

SYDNEY, Australia – Australia’s financial services watchdog proposes harmonising several rules currently applying to individual industries in order to streamline prudential requirements. The watchdog, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), said the plans would also help the agency’s plans for supervising financial conglomerates.

BASEL – Reinsurers, the firms that provide insurance for insurance companies, raised their capital in 2009 to levels comparable to amounts seen before the global financial crisis, and in doing so contributed to financial stability, according to regulators.

ZURICH – Anne Héritier Lachat, a law professor with much experience in the financial regulation field, took over as head of FINMA, Switzerland’s financial services sector watchdog, at the beginning of the New Year. Her appointment was announced in December at the Swiss government’s last meeting of 2010. Lachat replaces Eugen Haltiner, a former UBS banker criticised over a potential conflict of interest when UBS was bailed out two years ago.

Serious concerns are revealed in a public consultation over plans for an innovatory bank capital buffer. Said to be complex and inoperable By Melvyn Westlake

With the latest proposals on hedge accounting, the divisions between the top accounting standard-setters becomes even starker By David Keefe

GRR is profiling the three EU Authorities to be created at the start of 2011, beginning with the Authority to oversee banking By Melvyn Westlake

This GRR profile sees Solvency II as top of agenda for new insurance supervision authority. Staff shortage is constraint

Focus shifts to the consistent implementation of agreed capital and liquidity rules. But the economic costs remain contentious