NEW YORK/LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) – Corporations may have to
shoulder trillions of dollars of new balance-sheet liabilities
under an accounting change for leases that is meeting stiff
resistance from businesses in a test of international accounting
standard-setters’ resolve.

Already pared back once to reduce its impact on real estate
leasing, a proposed new international lease accounting standard,
under development for years, will reach a turning point in May
when standard setters unveil a detailed draft rule.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has asked mortgage lenders to check if customers can pay back the loans, stepping in early to head off possible defaults in a sector the government sees as key to reviving growth.

The FCA said the capital on 2.6 million interest-only home loans will be due for repayment over the next 30 years, with 10 percent of those having no strategy for paying back the money.

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) – Britain’s market watchdog has
asked mortgage lenders to check if customers can pay back the
loans, stepping in early to head off possible defaults in a
sector the government sees as key to reviving growth.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the capital on
2.6 million interest-only home loans will be due for repayment
over the next 30 years, with 10 percent of those having no
strategy for paying back the money.

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) – Britain intends to implement a
tougher version of European Union rules on capital adequacy for
its own insurers, even at the risk of a legal challenge in the
bloc’s courts, a top regulator has said.

Andrew Bailey, chief executive of Britain’s Prudential
Regulation Authority (PRA), said EU rules known as Solvency II,
due to come into effect in 2016 at the earliest, would not be
comprehensive enough.

LONDON (Reuters) – European Union plans forcing companies to change accountants regularly were watered down on Thursday, providing some relief for the “Big Four” auditors that check most large company books.

A panel from the European Parliament backed allowing companies to keep the same accountant for up to 25 years in a move also being considered by U.S. regulators.

LONDON (Reuters) – A heated debate about Europe’s austerity drive flared back into life on Thursday with leading IMF and European Central Bank officials sharply at odds and Angela Merkel declaring that Germany required higher interest rates.

With the threat of the currency bloc’s break-up receding, some euro zone officials are saying now is the time to throttle back on debt-cutting drives because calmer financial markets will not react badly.

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Companies would have to change
their accountant every 25 years under a tentative deal ahead of
Thursday’s committee vote on a European Union audit market
reform, two parliamentary sources involved in the talks said on
Wednesday.

If endorsed, it would mark a big dilution in the draft EU
law and trigger relief among the “Big Four” accounting firms -
Deloitte, Ernst & Young LLP, PwC
and KPMG – who check the books of nearly all blue chip
companies worldwide.

LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) – Britain’s new regulator for
market operators warned clearers of tougher policing of fees to
stamp out cut-throat competition that risks undermining
financial stability.

World leaders agreed during the financial crisis to reshape
the opaque $640 trillion off-exchange derivatives market for
interest rate, credit default and other swaps by requiring many
of the contracts traded between banks to be cleared by a third
party that has a default fund to cover losses.

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) – Top exchange officials opposed
to a European financial transactions tax intensified their
lobbying on Tuesday, warning it would push trading to other
parts of the world and make it harder for companies to raise
funds.

Eleven countries from the European Union are examining a
plan to tax their stock, bond and derivatives trades from
January 2014, no matter where they happen in the world.

LONDON (Reuters) – Trading of derivatives and other products denominated in euros in the financial markets should be backed up by support systems – such as clearing houses – based in euro zone countries, a senior French policymaker said on Monday.

Bank of France Governor Christian Noyer’s comments turn up the heat on Britain, which is fighting a European Central Bank plan to require clearing houses that handle a substantial amount of euro-denominated derivatives trades, such as London-based LCH.Clearnet, to be located in the euro zone.