HONG KONG - Planning for the pillar 2 supervisory issues of Basel II is possibly even more challenging than for pillar 1 capital requirements, because pillar 2 is not simply a matter of choosing between a limited number of options, a senior Hong Kong regulator said in September.

NEW YORK - US regulators expect the best risk management practices to spread beyond the largest US banks, even to those banks not required to adopt the Basel II upgrade of international rules for bank safety, US Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan said in early October.

MADRID - Banking and insurance supervisors share two challenges - the need to ensure that accounting standards and prudential rules are mutually consistent, and the need to strengthen the system-wide orientation of prudential rules.

Split with regulators over fair value presents major difficulties as Europe\'s partial adoption of IAS 39 threatens confusion. Failure to resolve differences over fair value could mean regulators taking their own measures to protect the integrity of regulatory capital David Keefe reports

Accounting standard setters need to understand better the business of banking, according to Basel Committee accounting task force chairman Arnold Schilder.

Another round of Congressional hearings led to renewed debate over whether state or federal regulation of the US insurance industry, or something in between, is best. Here\'s a review of some of the testimony.

European regulators would have to think again about the development of the risk-based Solvency II insurance safety regime, if a related key accounting project were \"to lose its way,\" a senior British regulator said in October.

The operational risk provisions of the new capital accord could fill big gaps in Sarbanes Oxley for managers of all companies, says guest contributor Bruce McCuaig

WASHINGTON, October 4 - The complex Basel II upgrade of international rules for bank safety may raise tensions over so-called home-host supervision issues, a top US central banker warned today. But significant efforts are being made to reduce any potential trouble.

BRUSSELS, October 1 - European Union member countries today agreed, as widely expected, a watered down version of the contentious IAS 39 accounting rule on valuing financial instruments such as bonds, shares and, crucially, derivative contracts.