LONDON – The bias towards holding sovereign country debt encouraged by current capital rules is undermining good risk management in insurers and banks, according to a seminal study of the implications of regulatory reform for the insurance industry.

CAMBRIDGE, England – Regulators can play a constructive role in allowing a broad range of investors to own contingent convertible capital securities – so-called “CoCos” – in order to spread the bearing of potential systemic risk, a top British central banker said in September.

SYDNEY – Australia proposes accelerating compliance with the international Basel III bank capital and liquidity package and dispensing with the transitional arrangements available because Australian banks are well placed to meet the new minimum capital requirements.

NEW YORK – Financial services trade associations in the US, Europe and Asia have attacked the Basel Committee’s proposed surcharge on large, complex banking groups. In a hard-hitting response to the Committee’s July consultation paper on the surcharge, they say the proposal should be “fundamentally revised and re-proposed.”

>‘Condorsement’ idea is popular, but some doubt whether there’s enough market and political will for US to adopt international accounting rules. Meantime, foreign regulators' patience is wearing thin By David Keefe

Lack of regulatory coordination threatens stability, says key report as delighted insurers learn they may not face surcharges

America urged to stop apologising for its insurance rules, as Europe and the US quietly move closer together

BASEL, Switzerland, September 1 (Global Risk Regulator) – Global regulators are stepping up work on new rules to supervise so-called “shadow banking”, that is banking activities undertaken outside the regular banking system by non-bank firms.

LONDON, August 17 (Global Risk Regulator) – Signs that global regulators are likely to prefer more intense supervision and oversight to imposing capital surcharges on the world’s biggest insurers are a positive move in the right direction, insurance industry representatives said today.

LONDON, August 16 (Global Risk Regulator) - New rules to ensure no insurance company is too big to fail are set to be drawn up in time for the 2012 meeting of G20 leaders, although unlike banks they may not include capital surcharges, according to industry supervisors cited by Reuters news agency.