LONDON (Reuters) – The Treasury named veteran Bank of England official Andrew Bailey on Tuesday to head its new banking regulator just a month before he must present a plan to help two part state-owned banks to become independent.

Bailey will become a deputy governor of the Bank and chief executive of the bank’s new prudential regulation authority (PRA) from April 1.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain named veteran Bank of England official Andrew Bailey on Tuesday to head its new banking regulator just a month before he must present a plan to help two part state-owned banks to become independent.

Bailey will become a deputy governor of the Bank of England and chief executive of the bank’s new prudential regulation authority (PRA) from April 1.

LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Britain named veteran Bank of
England official Andrew Bailey on Tuesday to head its new
banking regulator just a month before he must present a plan to
help two part state-owned banks to become independent.

Bailey will become a deputy governor of the Bank of England
and chief executive of the bank’s new prudential regulation
authority (PRA) from April 1.

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) – The “Big Four” accounting firms
should find out this week how their grip on Britain’s audit
market could be loosened in a ruling Europe and the United
States will scrutinise.

The Competition Commission launched its probe into the audit
market for the country’s 350 top listed firms in 2011 but has
delayed its preliminary findings twice to this month. It said it
was hoping to make an announcement this week.

LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Global regulators have proposed
cutting back how much collateral banks and other users of
off-exchange financial derivative instruments must have to back
their trades in a bid to avoid markets tying up too much capital
as economies struggle.

After the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank and the
near-death experience of insurer AIG in 2008 world leaders
agreed there should be wider use of collateral to back such
derivatives transactions to make the $640 trillion market safer.

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union and the United States agreed on Thursday to implement the new global Basel III capital adequacy rules for banks as soon as possible, EU financial services chief Michel Barnier said after a meeting in Washington.

The Basel rules are the world’s main regulatory response to the 2007-09 financial crisis, aimed at preventing a repeat crisis where banks had to be bailed out by their governments.

LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The European Union’s executive
formally proposed on Thursday a tax on financial trading in 11
countries to raise up to 35 billion euros annually, a step
investors said would hit savers and pension pots.

The European Commission set out how its financial
transaction tax (FTT), aimed at making banks pay for taxpayer
help they received in the financial crisis, would apply from
next January, the rate at which it would be set, and safeguards
to stop avoidance.

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union’s executive formally proposed on Thursday a tax on financial trading in 11 countries to raise up to 35 billion euros annually, saying it was a first step to applying the levy across the whole bloc.

The European Commission set out how its financial transaction tax (FTT), aimed at making banks pay for taxpayer help they received in the financial crisis, would apply from next January, the rate at which it would be set, and safeguards to stop avoidance.

LONDON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – The European Union’s markets
watchdog will monitor the use of collateral as tough rules
forcing banks to hold more in order to make derivatives markets
safer are prompting some lenders to warn there may not be enough
quality holdings to go around.

Collateral refers to cash and assets such as government
bonds which parties to a derivatives trade post as security. The
aim of the reforms is to avoid another situation like that when
derivatives-laden Lehman Brothers crashed in September 2008 with
little visibility about how far their debts would impact others.

LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Britain wants to give its risk
watchdog powers to impose tougher limits on how much banks can
extend their debt, a step which could put it at odds with
globally agreed rules.

The country has been taking a hard line approach after
having to bail out many of its banks, and wants to tighten
controls over a financial sector that is many times the size of
its economy.