Niche insurance firms should be especially attracted to Singapore by the lower minimum capital requirements resulting from the city state\'s risk-based supervision policies, Singapore deputy prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said in early October.

The US Senate Banking Committee has held 3 hearings into the implementation of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which is intended to re-establish investor confidence in the integrity of company disclosures and financial reporting after the corporate scandals of recent years. The hearings, held on September 9 and 23, and October 2 received testimony from regulators, accountants and corporate executives, as well as investor and industry associations and the administrator of the world\'s largest retirement scheme. Here is a summary of what they said.

Tim Leech compares the corporate governance provisions of the Basel II bank accord and the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act and applies seven tests of effectiveness

LONDON, October 3 - Global banking regulators believe collaboration between national banking supervisors should help resolve the so-called group allocation problem in the operational risk provisions of the controversial Basel II upgrade of international capital rules for bank safety.

LONDON, October 9 - Global banking regulators are ready to start work as soon as possible on the possibility of incorporating full credit risk models in the Basel Accord capital rules for bank safety, Basel Committee chairman Jaime Caruana said today.

LONDON, October 9 - Global banking regulators could improve on the present situation with the Basel II upgrade of international capital rules for bank safety without opening up other big issues, Basel Committee chairman Jaime Caruana said today in reply to reporters\' questions.

MADRID, October 11 - The compromise reached by global banking regulators on the vexed question of unexpected losses improves the Basel II upgrade of capital rules for bank safety and keeps Basel II on track, regulatory sources said today.

LONDON, October 13 -- The weekend compromise deal in Madrid to rescue the proposed Basel capital accord on bank safety was warmly welcomed across much of Europe today.

SYDNEY, Australia, October 13 - The compromise on unexpected losses reached by global banking regulators over the weekend looks like a neat solution to an issue that threatened serious delays to the Basel II upgrade of capital rules for bank safety, Australian banks and regulatory sources said today.

WASHINGTON, October 15 - More work is needed in other areas of the Basel II upgrade of international capital rules for bank safety following the weekend compromise on the unexpected losses issue, the influential Institute of International Finance (IIF) said today.