Regulators show signs of swinging behind an economic basis for Solvency II. But the move could lead to Anglo-French wrangling, reports David Keefe

BRUSSELS – Making the right split between principles and implementing measures is likely to prove a major challenge for regulators developing Europe’s Solvency II project for improving insurer safety, according to a senior researcher with a leading European think-tank.

Among the largest EU countries, Germany has similarly indicated that it will miss the January 31, 2007, deadline for transposing the directive. The more likely date for completion of this process is March, explains Georg Baur, director for financial markets at the Association of German Banks in Berlin. This means the country’s financial firms will have only seven months to prepare for implementation – and it could be even less if the legislative process takes longer than now predicted. But “we absolutely need at least nine months; and even that is not enough to deal with some aspects of the directive,” Baur says, citing the transparency and transaction reporting rules.

WASHINGTON, May 18 – (Global Risk Regulator) – Achieving international consistency in the implementation of the Basel II bank safety rules will be a challenge – something that all bank regulators recognise, US Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke said today.

BARCELONA, Spain – May 16 (Global Risk Regulator) – Recent international testing of the Basel II bank safety rules has shown up nothing to affect the aims of the Basel II framework, or anything that can’t be resolved during implementation of the rules, the world’s top banking regulator said today.

LONDON, May 3 (Global Risk Regulator) – With a key second test starting this week of Europe’s Solvency II proposals for making insurance firms safer, Britain’s regulators confirm they expect political wrangles over the treatment of technical provisions under the regime.

BERLIN, May 24 (Global Risk Regulator) – Global banking regulators have decided to leave the current calibration factor for the Basel II capital rules unchanged after reviewing the results of the most recent test of the complex rules.

WASHINGTON, June 9 (Global Risk Regulator) – US lawmakers yesterday reiterated their concerns about the controversial Basel II bank safety rules at Senate hearings on White House nominations for key banking supervision posts.

WASHINGTON, June 6 (Global Risk Regulator) – US Senate hearings scheduled this week on President George W Bush’s nominations for important posts in the nation’s banking supervision system could test the political temperature following the latest US proposals for implementing the controversial Basel II bank safety rules.

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Global Risk Regulator) – The US Senate banking committee yeaterday approved White House nominations to key posts in the federal banking supervision system.