LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) – The European Central Bank will
focus on the top 25 firms when it becomes supervisor for all
euro zone lenders from next year, ECB Vice President Vitor
Constancio said, adding that direct injection of funds into weak
banks won’t happen before 2014.

In a hearing with British lawmakers, Constancio sought to
ease concerns on Monday about the banking union plan that turns
the ECB into a powerful regulator as part of efforts to draw a
line under the euro zone debt crisis.

LONDON, Oct 22 (Reuters) – Britain’s banks will have to
provide detailed forecasts to a new supervisor which can then
order them to change their business models or raise more
capital, ending the “light touch” regulation of before the
2007-9 financial crisis.

Britain’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), based at
the Bank of England, will be launched on April 1 to oversee
banks as part of a shake-up of regulation aimed at preventing a
repeat of the taxpayer bailout of banks during the crisis.

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Britain, France, Japan and the
European Union have called on the United States to limit the
cross-border reach of its new derivatives rules to avoid
fragmenting markets at a time of economic weakness.

Leaders from the Group of 20 major economies agreed at the
height of the financial crisis to introduce rules that require
the clearing and reporting of derivatives trades by the end of
this year, to make the market less fragile.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Accounting firms will have to change how they check the books of companies in the European Union even if a British anti-trust probe of the sector finds little wrong, a senior EU lawmaker said.

EU member states and the EU Parliament are scrutinizing a draft EU law that proposes far-reaching changes to improve information for investors and increase auditor choice in a sector dominated by just four companies globally.

LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Britain’s financial regulators
sent banks mixed messages on Wednesday, saying they should trim
surplus reserves to help the struggling economy although they
need more capital as the worst may yet be to come.

British banks have been forced to build up large capital
defences since the 2007-09 financial crisis, when some like
Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds had to be
rescued by taxpayers – something the public does not want
repeated.

LONDON (Reuters) – UK banks may no longer be allowed to trim their capital reserves if doing so fails to increase lending in the struggling economy or undermines financial stability, Britain’s top banking regulator said on Wednesday.

Andrew Bailey, head of prudential regulation at the Financial Services Authority, said regulators are trying to explain more clearly what banks can do in terms of easing back on capital holdings if they lend more, and how much of what sort of capital a bank needs to remain resilient.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s new financial watchdog is in talks with crowdfunders and other innovative sources of finance to give small firms more choice in raising funds, part of government efforts to increase competition in banking.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be launched next year and its Chief Executive Martin Wheatley told a Thomson Reuters newsmaker event it will be open to approving new business models to serve smaller firms (SMEs) and customers.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain and other European countries have deep concerns about a banking union in the euro zone, although there are signs of a compromise to limit the powers of the European Central Bank in countries outside the euro, a UK minister told Reuters.

Financial services minister Greg Clark said in an interview on Tuesday that efforts to help the 17-nation euro zone and its banks recover from economic crisis must not come at the expense of the wider European Union market, which includes countries like Britain and Sweden that do not use the euro.

LONDON (Reuters) – The top priority of Britain’s new financial conduct watchdog must be to promote competition in banking to give consumers more choice, UK financial services minister Greg Clark said on Tuesday.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which will be formally launched in early 2013 as part of sweeping changes to Britain’s banking industry after the credit crisis, should help customers switch accounts and lift barriers for firms to enter the market.

LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Britain’s new market watchdog
will spell out on Tuesday how its sharper teeth to ban products
and challenge business models should make the 26,000 firms it
will supervise think twice about ripping off consumers again.

Martin Wheatley, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority
being launched in early 2013, will tell a Thomson Reuters event
at 0800 GMT how powers to take harmful products off the market
would work in practice.