Banking
Some EU countries unable to punish Emir breaches
Firms in Poland and Ireland cannot be fined for reporting breaches, while Belgium, Portugal and Spain have only recently acquired the ability to impose sanctions
Central Bank of Turkey tells lenders to drop all euros from reserve holdings
Only dollars will be allowed as a substitute for liras in required reserves, central bank announces; lenders forced to sell €12.7 billion
Herding tendencies mean smaller banks won't solve moral hazard issue
Anticipation of bailouts encourages banks to invest alike, making bailouts more probable and crises more severe, Minneapolis Fed paper argues
BoE moves to prepare UK banks for EU recovery and resolution rules
UK central bank moves to implement EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, a key piece of legislation to prevent taxpayer bailouts of banks
MAS launches consultation on tightening up money laundering controls
Monetary Authority of Singapore releases consultation paper on amending the rules aimed at cracking down on money laundering and financing terrorism
Bulgaria turns to the ECB in wake of bank failures
Collapse of Corporate Commercial Bank revealed extent of supervisory shortcomings that IMF warned of 15 years ago; Bulgaria now wants to join ECB's Single Supervisory Mechanism
Bulgarian state to rescue majority of depositors at scandal-hit banking group
Central bank seeks law change as council claims banking supervision was only in the purview of one deputy governor; loan records apparently destroyed on purpose
Cut in capital requirements opens door for new UK banks
Regulators say efforts to lower barriers of entry for small banks, including lower capital requirements and easier application process, is spurring competition
Volcker questions remain as metric reporting begins
US banks with more than $50bn in assets will be required to report trading metrics to regulators from July 1, but confusion remains around hedging and market-making exemptions
Basel committee revisits 2002 guidance on 'weak banks'
Update to BCBS guidelines is the first since long before the financial crisis; Ingves says ‘early identification and intervention by supervisors is critical'
Riksbank calls for separate LCR in local currency
Swedish central bank is wary of lenders' ‘extremely low' krona buffers; proposed change could be constrained by the size of Sweden's sovereign bond market, however
Caruana says ‘naïve' to be seduced by simple rules
Financial markets will continue to innovate to get around financial regulations - meaning regulators must also keep innovating, says BIS's Jaime Caruana
Greater competition leads to riskier banking, ECB working paper says
Paper finds more competition led banks to resort to more securitisation, greater risk and ultimately a higher probability of being bailed out
SSM results could come out early if severe weaknesses are found
Sabine Lautenschläger said today the results of the ECB's assessment of eurozone banks' health could be released early in the case of ‘severe weaknesses'
Rajan predicts ‘revolution’ in banking industry
The Indian banking sector is ‘on the cusp of revolutionary change’ as new developments and growing competition are breaking down the ‘grand bargains’ that once dictated its structure
More bank capital means banks lend more, paper finds
More capital means more credit - but greater supervisory capital constraints mean bank credit grows more slowly than when banks are less constrained
Ingves says banking industry must acknowledge problem around risk weights
The variation in how banks set risk weights is a problem that some in the industry are ignoring, says Basel Committee chairman
US Congress committee highlights Volcker rule anomalies
Fed's Tarullo among regulators grilled by US Congress over apparently arbitrary exemptions to the Volcker rule
EBA announces key ratios for European bank stress tests
European Banking Authority wants to see CET1 ratios of 8%, with 5.5% the threshold for an ‘adverse scenario'; stress tests to begin in the spring with results due out in October
Liikanen says 'Barnier rule' will allow for international regulatory convergence
Finland governor whose recommendations formed the basis of European bank reform notes that commissioner Barnier's proposals are closer to the 'Volcker rule'
Research shows CEE firms bribe bankers to get credit
Paper finds correlation between the prevalence of bribery in an economy and firms' bank debt ratios - suggesting firms bribe bank officials in order to secure loans
Basel Committee publishes leverage ratio definition
Basel Committee agrees common definition for simple bank leverage ratio; discussions set to continue over the appropriate required level
ECB appoints four SSM department heads
New directors general include a former secretary-general of the BCBS and hires from the central banks of Spain and Finland; ECB endorses Sabine Lautenschläger for its executive board
UK banks win tax exemption for client clearing
UK tax authorities exclude client collateral received as a result of clearing activities from bank levy, after complaints it would act as a disincentive to clearing