LONDON/BRUSSELS June 6 (Reuters) – European Union regulators
published guidelines on Thursday to stop banks rigging Libor and
other market benchmarks in an interim measure before a more
far-reaching EU law comes in.

The draft law, to be published in a few weeks, would propose
shifting the supervision of Libor from London to Paris.

LONDON (Reuters) – The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) could be enlisted to help end “Big Four” dominance of blue chip company book-keeping, the Competition Commission has said.

The accounts of most top UK companies are checked by PwC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, or KPMG, sparking policymaker concerns the four are too cosy with banking clients in particular.

LONDON, June 5 (Reuters) – Britain’s accounting regulator
could be enlisted to help end “Big Four” dominance of blue chip
company book-keeping, the UK competition watchdog has said.

The accounts of most top UK companies are checked by PwC
, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, or KPMG
, sparking policymaker concerns the four are too cosy
with banking clients in particular.

LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) – The three new external members of
the Bank of England’s financial risk watchdog expressed concern
on Tuesday about striking the right balance between regulation
and growth.

The Financial Policy Committee was launched in 2011 as an
early warning system for spotting economic risks, plugging a
supervisory gap highlighted by the 2007-2009 financial crisis.
It has powers to make recommendations and direct commercial
banks to hold more capital.

LONDON, June 3 (Reuters) – Work on mapping out how Britain’s
banks must plug a 25 billion pound capital hole will not be
hurried but should be done within weeks, Britain’s top banking
regulator said on Monday.

Andrew Bailey, chief executive of the Prudential Regulation
Authority (PRA) at the Bank of England, also sought to head off
critics who accuse him of being too slow, opaque, and allowing
lenders to avoid raising fresh capital.

LONDON (Reuters) – European Union rules to curb abusive short-selling of shares and government bonds have made financial markets more transparent, but changes are needed to the seven-month old law, the bloc’s market watchdog said on Monday.

Short-selling is a bet on stock or bond prices falling. The seller borrows the securities first, sells them on loan and seeks to buy them back at a lower price to pocket a profit.

LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) – Plans to inject more competition
into accounting should be watered down, European Union states
said on Wednesday, signalling less than initially expected will
be done to undermine the dominance of the sector’s “Big Four”
audit firms.

PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, and Ernst
& Young check the books of most big companies
worldwide and were criticised in the financial crisis for giving
banks a clean bill of health before some had to be rescued by
taxpayers.

LONDON (Reuters) – Accountants still fail to question banks properly over how they make provisions for poorly performing loans on their books, auditing policeman Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said on Wednesday.

The criticism goes to the heart of regulatory efforts since the 2007-09 financial crisis to restore investor confidence in the figures lenders publish about their health.

LONDON (Reuters) – Accountants still fail to question banks properly over how they make provisions for poorly performing loans on their books, Britain’s auditing policeman said on Wednesday.

The criticism goes to the heart of regulatory efforts since the 2007-09 financial crisis to restore investor confidence in the figures lenders publish about their health.

BRUSSELS/LONDON, May 24 (Reuters) – The role of the European
Banking Authority must be beefed up beyond current plans to
ensure that regulation of Europe’s banks does not fragment into
two competing systems, one of the architects of the reforms told
a public hearing on Friday.

Jacques de Larosiere, former head of the Bank of France and
IMF, said the European Central Bank’s role in a European Banking
Union to supervise euro zone lenders risked creating a “duopoly”
that would split the bloc’s single market next year.