Current regulatory regimes for banks’ large exposures are not strict enough in most countries, according to a study undertaken by credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s. Almost nowhere are banks required to disclose the size of their large exposures in their annual reports, the agency says in the study, published in December. US supervisors are the strictest, it concludes, and Japanese supervisors the most lenient.

The US Basel IA proposals seem to have got two cheers at least. But will the country end up with three levels of regulation: Basel I, Basel IA and Basel II?

LONDON - The latest test run of the new Basel capital adequacy standard indicates that it will lead to some fall in the overall capital level of British banks, according to preliminary results. But the fall will be rather less than experienced by US banks in an earlier test run a year ago.

BASEL, Switzerland – Swiss banks back the implementation of the Basel II bank safety rules in Switzerland, but they have reservations about what the final calibration of the regime might mean for them.

Large loan concentrations are a major risk for many banks in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EEMEA). High lending concentrations weigh on banks’ credit quality, while high deposit and securities concentrations restrict their liquidity and financial flexibility, says rating agency Standard and Poor’s in a study released in December (a companion study of large exposures in developed countries was published at the same time.

WASHINGTON – US banking regulators have set January 18 as the deadline for comment on their so-called Basel IA proposals for making current bank safety rules more risk-sensitive.

WASHINGTON – US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) chairman Donald Powell is leaving the agency on November 15 to co-ordinate the Administration’s efforts to rebuild the US Gulf Coast areas affected by recent hurricanes.

LONDON – Finite reinsurance was under the regulatory spotlight in October as supervisors variously threatened crackdowns, gave guidance and issued disclosure rules relating to the topic that’s at the centre of US enquiries into the world’s biggest insurer.

FRANKFURT, Germany – The consensus view among regulators is that upsets to the financial system are now more likely to erupt outside international banking and to spread through market linkages rather than lending relationships, a top international central banker said in November.

BRUSSELS – Europe needs to develop a European system of banking supervision that takes advantage of all the possibilities for co-operation and convergence, the world’s top banking supervisor said in October.