LONDON (Reuters) – PricewaterhouseCoopers held the top spot in rankings for accounting income last year, a sector where fees were squeezed by increased regulatory scrutiny and competition, an International Accounting Bulletin survey said on Wednesday.

The closely watched annual survey showed that the “Big Four” accounting firms – PwC , DeloitteDLTE.UL , KPMG KPMG.UL and Ernst & Young ERNY.UL – took 67 percent of the total $165.4 billion (£104.7 billion) in fees which the sector earned in 2012, little changed from 2011.

LONDON (Reuters) – PricewaterhouseCoopers held the top spot in rankings for accounting income last year, a sector where fees were squeezed by increased regulatory scrutiny and competition, an International Accounting Bulletin survey said on Wednesday.

The closely watched annual survey showed that the “Big Four” accounting firms – PwC , DeloitteDLTE.UL , KPMG KPMG.UL and Ernst & Young ERNY.UL – took 67 percent of the total $165.4 billion in fees which the sector earned in 2012, little changed from 2011.

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – German and French plans to reform
banks will leave big lenders largely intact, despite a welter of
rules aimed at making sure taxpayers are not forced to bail them
out in the next crisis.

It is more than four years since leaders of the top 20
economies (G20) pledged after the collapse of Lehman Brothers to
make the financial system safer through sweeping changes.

LONDON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Accountants will have to
determine more thoroughly if a bank can stand on its own two
feet for well over a year without taxpayer help under draft
changes from Britain’s audit regulator.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said auditors such as
KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Ernst &
Young would have to examine threats to a company’s
business model and capital adequacy through the economic cycle
for the sector a company is in.

LONDON, Jan 29 (Reuters) – The prospect of cash rewards
won’t prompt more bankers to step forward and blow the whistle
on wrongdoings that could put their institution at risk, a top
UK enforcement official said.

Tracey McDermott, director of enforcement at the Financial
Services Authority, came under heavy attack from lawmakers for
failing to send a top banker or board member to jail after
taxpayers had to rescue lenders in the 2007-09 financial crisis.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s accounting watchdog said it won’t take any action against Ernst & Young (E&Y) ERNY.UL over the way it checked the books of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. bank whose failure triggered a near meltdown in global markets in 2008.

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) probe focused on how E&Y, one of the world’s “Big Four” accounting firms, audited the London-based European arm of Lehman.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said it won’t take any action against Ernst & Young (E&Y) ERNY.UL over the way it checked the books of Lehman Brothers, the U.S. bank whose failure triggered a near meltdown in global markets in 2008.

The FRC probe focused on how E&Y, one of the world’s “Big Four” accounting firms, audited the London-based European arm of Lehman.

ZURICH/LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Investors must not be
complacent in valuing assets after efforts by central banks to
pump money into struggling economies, a global financial risk
watchdog said on Monday.

After a meeting in Zurich, the Financial Stability Board
(FSB) chaired by Mark Carney said risks remain even though
markets have improved and banks are in a healthier state.

LONDON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – A British court has upheld the
Financial Services Authority’s 8 million pound ($13 million)
fine for Canadian trading firm Swift Trade, the British
watchdog’s largest penalty for market manipulation.

The FSA said Swift Trade engaged in “systematic and
deliberate” trading practices known as “layering” – posting tens
of thousands of orders on the London Stock Exchange from
different parts of the world to dupe the UK market about true
supply and demand for the shares. The resulting share price
moves were exploited and the original orders deleted.

LONDON (Reuters) – Material differences in the way banks define their risky assets is blinding investors’ ability to make informed choices about where to put their money, a top regulator said on Thursday.

Stefan Ingves, chairman of the Basel Committee, said a report to be published shortly will confirm suspicions among key policymakers and top bankers that the methods used – generally in-house – across the world for measuring risky assets is not working well enough.