Bernanke confident of continuity after Bies goes

US Senate and House hearings provide platform for Accord critics. Europe\'s shadow regulatory panel fears perverse results By Melvyn Westlake

BRUSSELS – Europe’s top financial regulator said in late January that he’s much more confident that US implementation of the controversial Basel II capital rules will go ahead in the light of talks he’d had with counterparts at the US Treasury and the US Federal Reserve.

WASHINGTON – Senior lawmakers in the new Democrat controlled Congress, put down markers in mid February signalling their continuing worries about Basel II, a few days after Fed Board Governor Bies announced her intention to resign.

Are covered bonds in Britain the first sign of changing investor behaviour? FSA mulls capital charge for new securities

Barely a third of the countries in the EU appear to have met the January 31, 2007, deadline to set up a regulatory framework for the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), the sweeping new law aimed at creating a single financial services market across much of Europe. Officials at the European Commission in Brussels say it is too soon to identify how many countries transposed the huge and controversial directive in to national regulations by the deadline, but industry estimates range between three and ten. Several more countries are expected to complete transposition by the early summer.

LONDON – The Financial Services Authority (FSA), Britain’s regulatory watchdog is warning banks and other financial firms that the range and magnitude of the risks they face are growing. It thinks there is an increasing risk that the operating environment could become more demanding for firms and consumers over the next 18 months. “While the risks to financial stability are relatively low at present, if economic conditions were to deteriorate rapidly and significantly, financial stability could be tested,” the FSA says in the 2007 edition of its annual Financial Risk Outlook (FSO), published at the end of January.

MANAMA, Bahrain – The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) issued in early February a consultation paper on its proposals for implementing the pillar 1 capital requirements of the complex Basel II bank safety rules.

The New York conference called by the Basel regulators on advanced op risk approaches underlined the gains made, but left some familiar questions open Reports David Keefe

BRUSSELS – Recent moves by US regulators to revise the 100% collateral rules binding on non-US reinsurers doing business in the US are an important step forward, although there’s still a long way to go, Europe’s chief financial regulator said in late January.