WASHINGTON, June 5 (Global Risk Regulator) – Top US central banker Donald Kohn stressed to US lawmakers today the importance of the so-called pillar 2 overview aspects of the Basel II bank safety rules as a counterweight to any deficiencies in risk modelling under the new capital framework.

Supervisory colleges are proposed for all global financial firms by end 2008. Can they improve cooperation when trouble comes? By Melvyn Westlake

Both Fed and SEC want oversight of investment banks in the wake of Bear Stearns’ near collapse. Agencies sign MoU on cooperation

New rating agency regimes are likely both sides of the Atlantic. US will opt for more rules; EU prefers international solutions

Europe’s regulators put a commodity industry “alternative” approach on the table for discussion in a vexed debate

Transatlantic efforts towards mutual recognition are still going forward despite protectionist worries writes David Keefe

Risk-based insurance supervision, such as that embodied in the Swiss Solvency Test, or SST, could introduce a fateful procyclical pattern into the insurance market and the economy if procedures are followed blindly and without judgment, a study* by a leading insurance industry body suggests

LONDON – In assessing a bank’s risk profile, UK regulators will be taking into account bankers’ pay and bonus structures, seen by some critics as factors contributing to the recent financial turmoil, a top supervisor told UK investment managers in May.

LONDON – Inadequate liquidity is now seen as the most severe risk facing the banking industry, according to this year’s Banking Banana Skins survey. At the same time, the risk of too much regulation, which headed the results of the previous two surveys, has dropped to eighth place. The survey, conducted during February and March, is unsurprisingly dominated by concerns arising from the financial market crisis that erupted last summer. The crisis has significantly reshuffled the list of top concerns cited by bankers, their regulators, and close observers of the banking industry.

LONDON – European supervisors are proposing to retain about a fifth of the 152 national discretions and options currently identified in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), the EU version of the new, Basel II capital adequacy regime for banks. This new regime is now being implemented by banks in Europe and elsewhere around the world.