FRANKFURT – Quality of capital is one area where stressing the difference between the business models of banking and insurance isn’t helpful, according to Europe’s insurance regulators.

BASEL – Ensuring that statistical information remains adaptable in response to rapid changes in financial markets is a key lesson of a study of the information gap problem during the global financial crisis.

Washington lawmakers hear a stout defence of computerised trading in the face of growing concerns among regulators

eveloping an expected loss model for loan loss accounting means a tricky balancing of costs and transparency needs By David Keefe

As GRR went to press, the European Commission delayed introduction of the IASB’s changes to the use of fair value in international accounting rules, the first part of the three-part project to replace IAS 39. The IASB had shortly before issued its final version of the new rules.

The IASB’s loan loss provisioning model takes historical loss data into account, but uses the information to make estimates of what credit losses might be over the lifetime of a financial asset, according to IASB senior technical consultant Sue Lloyd.

Convergence is on, but the SEC seems adrift on whether to allow US firms to use international standards

In reaffirming their commitment to the convergence of their accounting standards, the two Boards confirmed their intention of making their rules on contentious fair-value accounting the same, countering fears of a split over an issue that’s at the centre of regulatory debate following the global financial crisis.

Systemic risk debate highlights continuing fears that an innocent industry will get clobbered for the sins of bankers. Insurers are only a slow-burn risk, they say

Systemic risk may arise in the insurance sector when insurance market capacity declines or disappears, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) says in its report.