A selection of news items generated by the American regulatory reform agenda

LONDON – Cross-border EU banks have until just January 20, to submit plans showing how they will meet “an exceptional and temporary” 9% Tier 1 core capital ratio by the end of June 2012, including a capital buffer against sovereign debt exposures. But at the same time, they must not significantly reduce lending to Europe’s real economy. Analysts say this is a tall order.

LONDON – Bankers have been alarmed by a radical suggestion in the Bank of England’s latest Financial Stability Report that regulators should consider imposing minimum risk weights for some categories of assets held by banks when they calculate their prudential capital requirements.

BASEL – Higher bank capital requirements, such as those stipulated under the Basel III rules, may create incentives for risk-taking rather than discouraging it, according to new research.

LONDON – Banking industry lobbyists were mainly keeping their heads down after being accused by a UK regulator in November of intellectual dishonesty in their efforts to convince public and politicians that tougher global banking rules would harm economic growth.

GRR news summary: EU audit firms; Accounting rule clarity wanted from US; Insurers welcome systemic risk paper; EU credit agency rules slammed as dangerous; Dishonest bank lobbying condemned

A three-pronged strategy to end the too-big-to-fail syndrome has received political backing. Implementation set to begin in 2016 By Melvyn Westlake

With countries falling behind in many areas, a beefed-up Financial Stability Board is intensifying efforts to get reforms back on track By David Keefe

A major overhaul of the way financial markets work in Europe is launched. It sets the stage for tough, prolonged wrangling

* Trading venues: The regulatory framework, which already covers multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and traditional exchanges under the existing MiFID, will now be extended to a new type of trading venue called organised trading facilities (OTFs). These facilities are expected to play an increasingly important role as a platform for trading standardised derivatives and capturing some other currently unregulated activities, such as Broker Crossing Networks (systems operated by investment firms which mainly internally match client orders).