JERUSALEM – Israel will complete the implementation of the Basel II bank safety rules a year or two after most Western countries, namely in 2009 or 2010, a senior Israeli central bank official said in November.

MANAMA – Bahrain plans to implement the pillar 1 capital requirements of the Basel bank safety rules from 2008, after putting pillars 2 and 3, relating to supervisory review and disclosure requirements respectively, into effect in 2007, the country’s central bank governor said in late November.

LONDON – A code of conduct for hedge funds is broadly supported by participants in the industry. But most believe that such a code should be developed by the industry itself, rather than be imposed by regulators.

BRUSSELS – Heads of the EU’s three key supervisory committees charged with coordinating oversight of their respective banking, insurance and securities industries across the 25-nation bloc signed a joint protocol in late November to foster mutual cooperation between themselves. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), the Committee of European Insurance and Occupation Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS), and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), form an essential part of the EU’s Lamfalussy process aimed at streamlining secondary financial legislation.

As the first Solvency II quantitative impact study gets under way, critics voice a range of concerns at key CEIOPS meeting

European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet told the CEIOPS conference that consistent supervisory treatment of banks and insurers would help counter the threat to financial stability posed by the potential for accounting and regulatory arbitrage in financial conglomerates.

Supervisors in Berne are anxious to minimise implementation burdens, and any changes to the tried and tested system for ensuring Swiss banking soundness, explains Daniel Sigrist*

Capital ratios at many Russian banks are falling, while their franchises and risk-weighted assets are expanding. This is creating a need for banks to boost their capital levels, according to a report published by the rating agency Fitch Ratings in late November.

LONDON, November 30 (Global Risk Regulator) – The different European and US timetables for implementing the Basel II bank safety rules present significant practical problems for banks, but won’t affect European Basel-II deadlines, according to a top UK banking supervisor.

BRUSSELS, November 15 (Global Risk Regulator) – Issues of implementation and competitive fairness between institutions will be the focus for some time to come of the Basel II bank safety rules, a top US central banker said today.