Financial Regulatory Forum

By John O’Donnell
BRUSSELS, Oct 20 (Reuters) – The European Commission unveiled plans on Tuesday to drive more trading in derivatives onto exchanges and under the gaze of regulators, publishing a raft of proposed new rules.

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By Ben Berkowitz and Edward Taylor
AMSTERDAM/FRANKFURT, Oct 20 (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank AG agreed in principle to buy some ABN AMRO assets from the Dutch state in a deal which should clear the way for a merger of nationalised banks ABN and Fortis Bank Nederland.

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BRUSSELS, Oct 19 (Reuters) – The European Union’s antitrust chief urged national courts on Monday to play a bigger role in combating illegal state aid from EU governments to companies.

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By Foo Yun Chee

BRUSSELS, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Neelie Kroes, the European Union antitrust czar, has picked two high-fliers with a wealth of financial and state aid experience to help restructure Europe’s banking landscape in the wake of the credit crisis.

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By John O’Donnell and Huw Jones
BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (Reuters) – The European Commission has abandoned plans to publish laws on bank capital rules this month, the EU executive said, amid a dispute that puts a question mark over its centrepiece reform to the way banks work.

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   BRUSSELS, Oct 9 (Reuters) – European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday he would strictly enforce the European Union’s competition and state aid rules, despite calls for a less rigorous approach.

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By Jonathan Gould and Matthias Inverardi
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Germany’s WestLB will jettison at least 87 billion euros ($128 billion) in risky assets to the country’s first “bad bank”, a move other lenders are likely to follow.

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– Alexander Smith is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own -

By Alexander Smith
LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) – If Brussels is really planning to force Royal Bank of Scotland  and Lloyds Banking Group to give up small business customers as part of the price for state aid they have received, it will be trying to break a cartel which has persisted despite the best efforts of the British government.

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AMSTERDAM, Oct 5 (Reuters) – The Dutch Finance Ministry and Deutsche Bank are still in talks to meet an EU competition remedy that would allow a merger between state-owned ABN AMRO and Fortis Bank Nederland, the ministry said on Monday.
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By Ben Berkowitz and Gilbert Kreijger
AMSTERDAM, Oct 2 (Reuters) – The European Commission on Friday gave the Dutch government a surprise extension of time to sell portions of nationalised bank ABN AMRO, about two weeks after a sale fell apart and just three hours before what had been regarded as a firm deadline.

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