LONDON - The European debt markets for regulatory bank capital experienced their best year in 2003 since the boom of 2000. And 2004 could be even better, say strategists

BEIJING - The surprise element in the Chinese leadership\'s long expected decision to inject fresh capital into the state-owned commercial banks, is the creation of a new state company, Central Huijin Investment Co, to ensure that the latest infusion of cash is not squandered

TAIPEI - After repeated delays, a unified financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), is due to be created in Taiwan by mid-year 2004.

ROME - The Italian government was preparing, as GRR went to press, to announce regulatory reforms in reaction to the collapse of Italian dairy and food product firm Parmalat, with a hole estimated at up to €10 billion ($13 billion) in its finances.

BASEL - Global banking regulators said as GRR went to press that they continue to make progress with the Basel II upgrade of international bank safety rules and will achieve their goal of finalising the rules by mid-year.

NEW YORK - SunGard Trading and Risk Systems said in January it has acquired the WhiteLight Basel II software product, and with it WhiteLight\'s SymphonyRPM development team.

LONDON - Europe\'s banks will spend almost $4 billion on credit risk management software and services over the next two years in order to comply with Basel II regulations, according to forecasts by business information firm Datamonitor as reported by Finextra technology research.

WASHINGTON - Financial markets appear to some degree to provide the fundamental conditions for market discipline to be effective, according to a research paper by the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Both the Basel Committee and the European Commission invited comments on the Madrid compromise. This concerned the treatment of expected and unexpected losses under the new Basel accord for setting bank capital levels. Fifty banks and industry associations responded by the December 31 comment deadline. Here is a summary of some of the comments

New international capital adequacy rules pose challenges for the fast developing Islamic banking industry. Can it fit into the conventional regulatory framework? David Keefe reports