SHANGHAI, March 16 (Reuters) – China’s securities regulator is set to clear only stocks-related mutual funds to trade in the country’s first stock index futures, ordering them to trade for hedging rather than speculative purposes, according to draft rules published on Tuesday.

    BRUSSELS, March 16 (Reuters) – The derivatives market remains a “dark ocean” that needs more transparency but it was unclear if a ban on credit default swap trading would work in practice, a top U.S. regulator said on Tuesday.

    TAIPEI, March 16 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s top financial regulator formally announced on Tuesday guidelines on investments between local and Chinese banks and financial institutions after the government gave its approval.

   By Ann Saphir
   BOCA RATON, Fla., March 11 (Reuters) -   Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-funding giants that were seized by the government in September 2008, will start using central counterparty clearing this year in a move that could mark a seismic shift in the $400 trillion global swaps market.

   By Karey Wutkowski
   WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) – U.S. bank regulators  extended a policy on Thursday that protects securitized assets in the event that a bank fails and is seized by regulators.

   By Ann Saphir and Jonathan Spicer
   BOCA RATON, Florida, March 10 (Reuters) – Craig Donohue, head of the world’s biggest futures exchange operator, said on Wednesday the growing number of months that regulators and politicians are devoting to revamping financial markets is a positive sign — not something to grow anxious over.

   ZURICH, March 9 (Reuters) – Former UBS <UBS.N><UBSN.VX> chairman Marcel Ospel is willing to give evidence to a parliamentary committee into the Swiss government’s bailout of the bank during the financial crisis, daily Blick reported on Tuesday.

   By Kevin Drawbaugh and Rachelle Younglai
   WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve could retain oversight of large bank holding companies under a scaled-back regulatory reform plan being considered by key senators, but important questions remained unanswered, lobbyists said on Sunday.

    By Ann Saphir
   MINNEAPOLIS, March 2 (Reuters) – Supervisory powers over banks are critical for the Federal Reserve to do its job, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said on Tuesday.

    WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) – The top Republican on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said on Tuesday that the powers granted to a new financial government consumer watchdog are more important than its location in the federal bureaucracy.