EPrivatisation of Britain’s Royal Mail Group moved a step closer after EU regulators approved government plans to take on its deficit-ridden pension scheme.
02/26/2012
— Filed under: Finance,Politics
Tags: EU, pension, Royal Mail
A vote in the European Parliament’s budgetary control committee on whether to approve the European Union’s accounts for the 2010 financial year is finely balanced, with MEPs seeking assurances from the European Commission that controls on the spending of regional aid will be improved.
02/22/2012
— Filed under: Finance,Politics
Tags: budgetary control, European Parliament
The European Union’s executive body has set its sights on increasing supervision of the shadow banking industry, in the latest proposals to strengthen financial sector regulations in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
The European Commission launched a public consultation Monday on the €46 trillion ($60,6 trillion) shadow banking system, in which regulated institutions can conduct unregulated business and unregulated intermediaries can create credit.
«What we do not want is for financial activities and entities to circumvent existing and foreseen rules, allowing new sources of risk to accumulate in the financial sector,» said EU Internal Market and Services Commissioner Michel Barnier.
While shadow banking allows additional sources of funding and alternatives to bank deposits, policy makers are increasingly cautious of its risks. They cite the build-up of hidden leverage and the ability to circumvent rules meant to protect the financial system and consumers.
The EU wants to focus on extending existing rules rather than setting up a new set of regulations that would create an independent supervisory regime.
Monday’s «green paper» on the issue looks at the question of whether to enlarge existing EU banking legislation beyond deposit-taking institutions that provide credit. It also recommends a review of the quality of collateral and liquidity behind securities lending and derivatives transactions between exchange traded fund providers and their counter-parties. The paper also recommends that «special attention» be paid to global leverage resulting from securities lending, collateral management and repurchase agreement transactions.
The paper also says that new legislation might be needed to increase the power of some national supervisors to collect data on shadow-banking.
Amid disputes over how to define shadow banking, the commission’s paper sets out categories that might come under the system, including special purpose entities that perform liquidity or maturity transformation; money market funds, which are vulnerable to massive redemptions; investment funds that provide credit or are leveraged, including exchange traded funds; finance companies and securities entities providing credit or credit guarantees without being regulated like a bank and insurance and reinsurance undertakings that issue or guarantee credit products.
Hedge funds aren’t highlighted in the paper, because whether or not they are shadow banks depends on their function, said a senior EU commission official. Indeed, the EU is focusing broadly on the types of activities that could constitute shadow banking, rather than entities, because the industry changes as regulations change, said the official.
«We’re talking about the margins, things that are not dealt with in current supervisory frameworks. But they can be very sensitive margins,» said the official.
The paper comes ahead of an April conference in Brussels on regulation of the shadow banking system.
The focus on shadow banking is a global drive. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned against forgetting the risks posed by this sector in an article in The Wall Street Journal this month: «A large shadow banking system had developed without meaningful regulation, using trillions of dollars in short-term debt to fund inherently risky financial activity.»
The Financial Stability Board, tasked with looking at ways to make the global financial system more stable, is expected to publish conclusions on its policy work on shadow banking in July and September.
«With today’s consultation in the form of a green paper, the commission is participating actively in the ongoing FSB work,» the EU said in a statement.
Adoption of the commission’s legislative proposals on shadow banking is expected at the beginning of 2013.
When Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny announced last week that the new fiscal agreement with the European Union would be put to a popular vote, he said it was a chance to reaffirm the nation’s commitment to the euro.
02/15/2012
— Filed under: Finance
Tags: fiscal deal, Ireland
Some large European banks are using cheap loans from the European Central Bank to insulate themselves from new problems that could flare up in their businesses in financially ailing European countries.
02/14/2012
— Filed under: Finance
Tags: Barclays PLC, EU bank, loans
The German government is confident of winning the necessary two-thirds majority in parliament to approve the EU’s new pact to control budgets, a spokesman said on Monday.
European leaders Thursday urged all countries to stick by tough fiscal rules and showed little sympathy with Spain and the Netherlands over their budget problems even as they’re looking to ramp up efforts to boost the region’s sagging economies.
02/5/2012
— Filed under: Finance
Tags: EU, leaders, Netherlands, Spain
The European Union should curb early-retirement plans and equalize pension ages for men and women as part of efforts to cut spiraling entitlement costs and help tame the region’s debt crisis, the EU’s top regulator said.
The European Union’s tax chief on Thursday rejected UK opposition to a planned levy on financial transactions, saying it would dampen risky trading and barely dent growth.
Greek investors will need time to review settlement details and make decisions as a debt swap takes shape along with a second rescue package for the country, the European Union said.
01/27/2012
— Filed under: Finance,Politics
Tags: bond, Greece, investors
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