LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – New rules on how much collateral
is needed to back derivatives trades are unlikely to be
finalised before September, leaving markets in limbo as global
regulators seek to minimise potential harm to economic recovery.

World leaders had requested that the rules be in place by
the end of 2012. However, agreement has proved difficult because
of the huge demand for collateral at a time when banks are
already being forced to beef up their capital reserves.

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – The world’s financial system must
be reconfigured to encourage more investment in shares as part
of wider efforts to increase economic growth, an influential
think tank said on Monday.

The Group of Thirty (G30), made up of current and former
regulators and central bankers, said without such reform it will
be hard to raise at least $7 trillion annually it estimated
leading economies will need by 2020 to put growth back on track.

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Internal auditors, under fire
from regulators for failing to spot how banks were rigging the
Libor interest rate, should report directly to company boards
and have enough resources to do the job, a British industry body
said on Monday.

Auditors employed by companies to assess if big risks have
been properly identified, controlled and reported, are not
subject to direct external regulation and have been discredited
by a string of banking scandals.

LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) – Internal auditors, slammed by
regulators for failing to spot how banks were rigging the Libor
benchmark, should report directly to the board and have enough
resources to do the job, a British industry body said on Monday.

Internal auditors are employed by companies but are not
directly regulated and have become discredited due to a string
of banking scandals.

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Banks may be forced to help
compile key interest rates like Euribor under a draft law the
European Union’s financial services chief will propose later
this year to help clean up benchmark rates that several lenders
have rigged.

More than a dozen banks are being investigated by regulators
over the manipulation of Euribor and Libor, inter-bank lending
rates used to price trillions of dollars worth of loans.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s plan to safeguard retail banking is a far better idea than the U.S. approach of forcing banks to hive off speculative trading, the Bank of England’s next governor told lawmakers.

Mark Carney is to take up the reins in July, three months after the central bank becomes Britain’s main regulator for lenders.

BRUSSELS/LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – European Union lawmakers
pressed ahead with new rules for derivatives on Thursday,
helping the bloc meet one global pledge to make markets safer as
it struggles to meet another on raising bank capital levels to
diminish risk.

The European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France,
decided not to proceed with a resolution which, if passed, would
have forced regulators to rethink long-awaited derivatives
regulation, triggering delay and uncertainty for markets.

LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) – A delay in European Union rules
making derivative financial instruments safer would tie the
bloc’s hands in talks with the United States to unify the way
the industry is regulated, a top supervisor said on Wednesday.

The European Parliament’s economic affairs committee
rejected a final version of the rules on Monday evening, saying
they would penalise firms that use derivatives to insure against
the risk of adverse price movements in raw materials.

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) – A panel of European Union
lawmakers on Monday narrowly rejected a set of new derivatives
rules, potentially leading to months of uncertainty for users of
regulations instigated during the 2007-09 financial crisis in an
effort to make markets safer.

The European Parliament’s economic affairs committee meeting
in Strasbourg, France, voted 24-20 to rethink the rules, which
G20 countries had pledged to introduce after the crisis – in
which opaque derivatives played a part.

LONDON (Reuters) – A panel of European Union lawmakers has overwhelmingly backed a draft law throwing open the settlement of share and bond trades to competition if backed by closer scrutiny and other safeguards.

Settling trades, the final step in any deal in which ownership of a security is transferred to a buyer, relies on a multi-trillion euro system to swap legal title in return for payment.