The latest transatlantic agreement between regulators to curb energy market speculation could increase trading costs

Little known aspect of insurance business poses new problems for supervisors. What would happen in extreme loss situation?

America’s state-based system of insurance regulation shows wide observance of the core principles for insurance supervision developed by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), according to a self-assessment by US insurance regulators.

As Europe’s insurance supervisors get down to the details of how the radical Solvency II regime will be implemented in the European Union, the British insurance industry let out a howl of pain.

Rating downgrades, weak markets and EU rules are all undermining the role of hybrid securities in banks’ regulatory capital By Melvyn Westlake

Bankers still hope to ease new UK liquidity regulations Bankers worry that Britain is moving ahead too fast with its new liquidity regime. Rules will be more restrictive than in rest of EU After weeks of intense lobbying, bankers in London are more hopeful that Britain’s regulators may now be prepared to make some changes to the stringent new bank liquidity regime before final rules are published, probably at the end of September or beginning of October. But discussions over the controversial proposals are being complicated by differences between the Financial Services Authority (FSA), the country’s financial regulator, and the Bank of England, according to those involved.

US Congress may harden Administration’s proposed rating industry reforms. Conflicting policy choices put forward

Credit rating agencies are, yet again, under fire from investors, over the losses suffered in the hybrid market. The hybrids were mis-rated, according to Roger Doig, a credit analyst at asset management firm, Schroders, in London. “The cardinal mistake that the rating agencies made was to notch these [hybrid instruments] automatically two notches below the bank’s senior debt rating, even though there are significant differences in the risks to the principal for these two types of debt,” he says.

Obama’s reforms stand a better chance after reappointment of Fed chief. But confirmation hearings may focus on Fed's ‘excessive power’ By Nick Paraskeva President Barack Obama’s re-nomination of Ben Bernanke as chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board should, if backed by Congress, ease passage of some parts of the administration’s financial regulation reform package. As Congress entered its August recess, reform was bogged down by turf wars between federal supervisors

Congressional sources say the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee is planning hearings and votes on the Obama reform proposals starting after the recess. One of the first items is a September vote on the bill to create a consumer agency, and despite industry lobbying during the summer recess “the momentum is still there and we will get it done”. The House will hold separate votes on each major piece of the reform legislation, in contrast to the Senate’s omnibus approach.