US President and Treasury officials forcefully press case for financial regulatory overhaul. Rebut critics and refuse to concede ground By David Keefe

A proposal for some kind of tax or levy on the banks will be a key topic for G20 summit meetings this year, in addition to schemes for the resolution of insolvent banks. But there are several, sometimes conflicting tax proposals under consideration. Britain, Germany and France are said to be close to agreeing a global tax that would cost banks billions of euros a year (a European Commission paper suggests that an EU-wide levy would raise up to €50 billion a year). But there are significant differences about how the tax might work, and how the proceeds will be used.

Crisis management legislation set for 2011. Called “absolute priority.”Ambitious IMF paper backs comprehensive approach By Melvyn Westlake

European supervisors begin consultation on revising directive. Once-hostile industry now wants only minimum changes

As Administration, lawmakers and finance industry scrap over new rules, analysts see reduced volatility as a plus for ratings Although US banks and Wall Street firms are said to have launched “one of the most expensive special interest campaigns in history” against proposed regulatory reform, at least some of them could be affected positively by the Bills now being considered in Congress.

BASEL – Regulators on the Basel Committee are braced, as GRR goes to press, for a flood of public responses to the stringent package of capital and liquidity proposals issued in late December, and aimed at strengthening the banking system’s defences against future crises. The majority of responses were expected to arrive on the April 16 deadline.

BRUSSELS – European Union regulators need sweeping powers to tackle ailing banks, including firing their executives, imposing a tax, forcing bondholders to take a loss and transferring ownership, the EU bloc’s chief financial regulator said in an urgent mid-April message.

BRUSSELS – Widely criticised potential capital charges under Europe’s Solvency II insurer safety framework have been eased by the European Commission ahead of a key industry-wide test of the new regime this summer (see page 18).

BASEL – Regulators are considering using capital requirements for banks and broker-dealers, and counter-cyclical capital add-ons to achieve greater stability in the securities financing markets and prevent them exacerbating the ups and downs of the economic cycle. This is one of the recommendation put forward for consideration by a study group chaired by David Longworth, deputy governor of the Bank of Canada in a report issued in late March.*

WASHINGTON – The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has turned its attention to the asset backed securities markets, which were at the epicentre of the 2007-09 financial crisis, proposing tough new rules, including a requirement for sponsors of such bonds to retain 5% of them.