Financial Regulatory Forum

    LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – The European Commission may force Lloyds Banking Group <LLOY.L> to sell off all or part of its Halifax branch network as compensation for the billions of pounds of state aid the group has received, the London Times reported. (more…)

    By Nigel Davies
   LONDON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – U.S. banks will be free of bailout obligations like those owed to the Troubled Asset Relief Program within two years, a Reuters poll of economists found on Friday, but European lenders will take longer to cut loose from public support. (more…)

   BRUSSELS, Sept 10 (Reuters) – The European Union plans to create a banking super-watchdog and give it power to overrule countries such as Britain, according to draft legislation that could come into effect next year. (more…)

   By Anna Willard and Huw Jones
   LONDON, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Continental European officials defended the globally-agreed Basel II capital rules for banks on Friday despite a U.S. call for its effective replacement with a tougher new regime within three years. (more…)

    BRUSSELS, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Leading German and Italian business groups urged the European Union on Thursday to relax capital requirements for banks temporarily to boost lending and fight the economic crisis. (more…)

    By Huw Jones
   LONDON, Sept 3 (Reuters) – U.S. pressure to toughen up how banks set aside capital suggests reform of Basel II rules on capital adequacy could be drawn out for years, leaving banks in the lurch.
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    BRUSSELS, Sept 3 (Reuters) – Jose Manuel Barroso vowed on Thursday to work to boost cooperation within the euro currency zone if he is elected for a second five-year term as president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body.
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   By Natalie Harrison
   LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) – A credit event at France’s Thomson SA, the first to feature in a current benchmark European credit default swap index, will test the market’s ability to cope with complex new auction rules to settle CDS.
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    By Huw Jones
   LONDON, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Financial firms said European Union plans for comparing credit rating agencies would boost competition and increase investor power, documents from the bloc’s regulators showed on Wednesday.
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By Nigel Tutt
MILAN, Aug 7 (Reuters) – Traditional insurance groups, such as Italy’s Assicurazioni Generali SpA, are likely to find the transition to the EU’s latest solvency rules more challenging, said Deloitte Consulting’s Giovanni Bragolusi.

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