Revised guidelines on insurer governance released in May seek to reflect the lessons learned from the global financial crisis, including the need for a board with the necessary leadership and expertise. The guidelines*, which are non-binding, were issued by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based ‘club’ for the world’s most advanced economies. High-standard corporate governance is a key component of the regulatory and supervisory framework, the OECD said.

TOKYO - Amid the continued uncertainty whether America will adopt international accounting rules (see page 20), it’s possible Japan could give the go-ahead to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) next year.

NEW YORK – The shadow banking system is well positioned to take on a greater role in lending as the economic and political aftershocks of the financial crisis reshape the more traditional banking industry, according to a research note issued in mid-May by rating agency Standard & Poor’s. And, shadow banks are likely to try to advance the emerging opportunity, it says, to finance more assets that banks either can't or won't fund because of new regulation, such as the Dodd-Frank reform Act passed in the US last year and the Basel III capital standards.

LONDON – Insurers once again see regulation, in the shape of too many big and costly initiatives coming at once, as the number-one risk to their global industry’s effectiveness, according to survey results released in May.

LONDON – British finance minister, George Osborne, confirmed in mid-June the most radical shakeup undertaken anywhere since the credit crisis, both in the way the country conducts financial regulation and how its banks are structured.

G20 action on raw material markets seems as elusive as ever as farm prices worry France and gasoline prices scare the US

Europe frets as US bides its time on international accounting rules. Washington regulators say investors come first

After months of industry criticism, insurance supervisors defend their positions on systemic risk and EU’s Solvency II

Bundesbank and banking industry are ‘up in arms’ over Commission’s regulation plan. Could be constitutional issue By Klaus C. Engelen

Accusations fly as lawmakers and regulators worry that others will gain by appliying new rules more slowly or less rigorously By David Keefe