Amid growing fears about the future competitiveness of America’s insurance industry, the nation’s state insurance regulators have adopted a solvency modernisation work plan that will include an analysis of the impact on the US market of Europe’s planned Solvency II regime.

With Europe’s Solvency II looming, insurers and federal government worry over America’s lack of a coherent voice on insurance matters. Opponents of radical change remain entrenched

Despite co-operative efforts by all parties, the US and Europe are no closer than they were several years ago to finding pragmatic solutions to the issues raised by America’s reinsurance collateral rules and by the EU’s forthcoming Solvency II regime, US Treasury deputy assistant secretary Jeremiah Norton told June’s Congressional hearing.

WASHINGTON, June 26 (Global Risk Regulator) – A top US regulator today approved long-awaited proposals for giving thousands of America’s regional and community banks the option of adopting a US version of the simpler risk measurement approaches in the international Basel II bank safety rules.

(This provides additional information in respect of the GRR email news item “Basel guidance aims to improve liquidity risk management” datelined Basel, Switzerland, June 17).

BASEL, Switzerland, June 17 (Global Risk Regulator) – Global banking regulators today issued their much anticipated new guidance on improving bank resilience to financial markets seizing-up in times of stress, the so-called liquidity risk that the current credit crunch has brought to the fore.

DUBLIN, June 16 (Global Risk Regulator) – Describing as a “toothless wonder” the code of conduct for credit rating agencies set by the world’s stock market regulators, Europe’s top financial regulator says mandatory regulation of the firms is now necessary.

OSAKA, Japan, June 15 (Global Risk Regulator) - Financial markets are now showing \"fragile stability,\" with the biggest risks to global economic growth stemming from the “real economy,\'\' the head of an international group of regulators said at the weekend.

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Global Risk Regulator) – America’s stock market regulator is proposing tighter rules to increase the transparency of the work of credit rating agencies, end conflicts of interest and generally curb practices that they say contributed to the credit crisis.

LONDON, June 9 (Global Risk Regulator) – Financial regulators need to think actively about how to make the world’s regulatory and accounting framework less pro-cyclical, or prone to undesirable reinforcement of economic cycles, according to Germany’s central bank chief.