Australian regulators want to maintain consistency with accounting standards but this may not be possible in the case of capital definitions and the new international accounting rules, Australia’s top prudential regulator said in late May.

Poland and Hungary worry that heavy foreign ownership of their banks could pose potential supervisory conflicts.

The row over Europe’s new constitution holds a danger for the process that’s rationalised the delivery of EU financial regulation

LONDON – Seven international banking and derivative industry associations have given a qualified welcome to the regulatory treatment of trading book risks proposed in April after a year-long review by a working group of senior regulators. The trading book review represents one of the main unfinished aspects of the new Basel capital rules aimed at underpinning the solvency of banks around the world.

ISTANBUL – Studies indicate that the impact of the international Basel II bank safety rules on the capital adequacy ratio of Turkish banks will be limited in significant terms, a top Turkish Treasury official said in May.

DOHA, QATAR – Global banking supervisors hope to issue a draft of revised guidance on corporate governance for banks in late summer or early autumn, the world’s top banking regulator said in late May.

TOKYO – The bad debt crisis at Japan’s major banks is over. And, that’s official. The goal of the Financial Revival Programme, to halve the bad debts carried on the banks’ books during the three years to end-March 2005, “has been achieved,” according to a statement by Japan’s minister for financial services, Tatsuya Ito, in late May.

WASHINGTON – US banking regulators still hope to issue in the autumn their plans for implementing the international Basel II bank safety rules and they aim to keep to their timetable for putting the rules into effect.

LONDON – The path was cleared in June to settling at least part of the dispute over the IAS 39 accounting rule that’s marred the introduction of new international accounting standards in Europe.

LONDON – Proportionality should be central to the supervisory oversight of European banks applying the EU’s capital adequacy rules. This is heavily emphasised in a new consultative paper * issued by the London-based Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), which promotes convergence of supervisory practice among the 25 members of the EU, and advises the European Commission on the technical aspects of financial legislation.