Blenderlaw

council agrees short selling regulation February 21, 2012

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The text is here.

uk government consults on gender and insurance December 9, 2011

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The UK is consulting on its proposed response to the Test-Achats decision. The announcement of the consultation states:

The Consultation document seeks views on the Government’s legal interpretation of the judgment and the accompanying draft regulations that amend the Equality Act. It also seeks comments on the Government’s impact assessment and requests additional data that would contribute to a better understanding of the impact on consumers and insurers. Finally, it asks for views on some of the key issues arising from the judgment, such as the scope of indirect discrimination.

spinning the financial crisis October 30, 2011

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According to the Chairman of the London Stock Exchange, Chris Gibson-Smith, the occupy movement should not be focusing its critique on financial institutions but on the governments which didn’t regulate the financial institutions properly:

There are unintended consequences of free markets … It’s not capitalism that has been the problem, but irresponsible governments and politicians who have allowed the financial system to explode by permitting the build-up of ludicrous amounts of debt and leverage.

Why did these irresponsible governments allow this? Because financial institutions told them too much regulation would interfere with their ability to compete with institutions based in other jurisdictions. And this is still going on. See, for example, this week’s news that Cameron is determined to protect the City of London from harmful European regulation.

basel iii October 19, 2011

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In contrast to the FSB’s peer reviews the Basel Committee’s review of implementation of Basel II and III published this week does contain some information about methodology. But the description illustrates that the focus on implementation is about formal implementation rather than implementation in substance:

In this report, the following classification is used to classify the status of adoption of regulatory rules:
1. Draft regulation not published: this status corresponds to cases where no draft law, regulation, or other official document has been made public to detail the planned content of the domestic regulatory rules. This status includes cases where a jurisdiction has communicated high-level information about its implementation plans but not detailed rules.
2. Draft regulation published: this status corresponds to cases where a draft law, regulation or other official document is already publicly available, for example for public consultation or legislative deliberations. The content of the document has to be specific enough to be implemented when adopted.
3. Final rule published: this status corresponds to cases where the domestic legal or regulatory framework has been finalised and approved but is still not applicable to banks.
4. Final rule in force: This status corresponds to cases where the domestic legal and regulatory framework is already applied to banks.

co-operative financial regulation ? August 30, 2011

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The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier in Luxembourg has announced that it has declined to recognise ARM Asset Backed Securities S.A. as a regulated securitisation undertaking under the Luxembourg law on securitisation (the assets backing the securities are life insurance policies taken out by US seniors.) The UK’s FSA and the Central Bank of Ireland say they are working with the CSSF. The CSSF states:

The CSSF considers that this Decision, as from the notification thereof to ARM (which has occurred today), entails a suspension of any payment by ARM and prohibition for ARM, under penalty of voidance, to take any measures other than protective measures, unless otherwise authorized by the CSSF acting as supervisory commissioner (“commissaire de surveillance”).
If unchallenged, the Decision will become final one month after its notification. Once the Decision is final, the district court dealing with commercial matters shall, as a consequence thereof, be requested to pronounce the dissolution and order the liquidation of ARM.

imf on uk June 7, 2011

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Financial stability in the UK is ..a global public good

some questions about self-regulation and compliance May 26, 2011

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Why, on recent flights between Miami and Newark, was it necessary for the pilot to threaten passengers that the flight would not be able to land or take off if they did not comply with instructions to turn off electronic devices (I know there’s controversy about whether this requirement is necessary but it is a requirement and non-compliance imposes costs on the passengers who do comply)?

Why is the SEC backdating documents (OIG Report stating the SEC’s Office of Administrative Services backdated a justification an approval of the SEC’s lease of premises)?

Is there a connection between citizens’ carelessness about paying attention to the rules and a regulatory agency’s carelessness about compliance with formalities? I suspect so.

poetry in a crisis March 31, 2011

Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , 1 comment so far

There;’s something very poetic (but tragically so) in the Irish Finance Minister’s statement on banking:

Tuesday, 30th September, 2008 will go down in history as the blackest day in Ireland since the Civil War broke out.
The 30th September 2008 was the day on which the then Government extended the infamous guarantee to the Irish banks and decided that Anglo Irish Bank should be supported and maintained.
It quickly became apparent that Anglo was insolvent in the absence of State support, that the other banks were illiquid and that the banking system was not fit for purpose.
The banks were too big for the economy. The JCB and the swinging crane had become the logos of the banks, and Irish bankers were as likely to be funding apartment blocks on the Black Sea or dabbling in property schemes in Singapore, as they were to be investing in the Irish economy.
We are now in the third year of the banking crisis. The previous Government failed to act. They ducked and dived and procrastinated as they lurched from one crisis to the next. They went through periods of denial and periods of self justification. They paved the road to disaster with good intentions.
They never fixed the broken banks however.