WASHINGTON – Roger Cole is the US Federal Reserve Board’s new director of Banking Supervision and Regulation, the senior Board official with responsibility for banking supervision at the US central bank.

WASHINGTON - America’s state bankers want a say in the development of bank safety regimes such as the controversial Basel II capital adequacy rules, currently the preserve of the federal supervisory agencies.

HELSINKI – EU finance ministers have agreed to set up a Working Group to consider crisis management within the 25-country bloc. But whether this will include the highly controversial area of burden sharing appears to be a matter of dispute between London and Finland, the country that currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.

SINGAPORE – Timetable differences in the implementation of the Basel II bank capital rules around the world are temporary and should in time be settled, Britain’s top financial regulator said in September.

WASHINGTON – A strong defence of the controversial, and heavily criticised Sarbanes-Oxley Act was made by US lawmakers, and witnesses giving testimony to the House of Representatives’ Financial Services Committee in mid-September.

FRANKFURT – The final test around the world of the Basel II bank capital adequacy rules confirms that the quest by bank regulators for stable capital levels and improved risk-management practices is attainable, says a report by credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s.

WASHINGTON – The combination of the numerous differences between the US version of the Basel II bank rules and elsewhere, and the unique features of the US financial system poses serious long-term challenges to banks, says a study of the latest US proposals for implementing Basel II.

Australia’s regulators have added stress testing requirements as part of some refinements to their approach to operational risk AMAs, after incorporating bank feedback on a 2005 discussion paper.

WASHINGTON, September 26 (Global Risk Regulator) – US plans for implementing the controversial Basel II bank safety rules are on a very tight timetable, a top banking regulator said today.

LONDON, September 28 (Global Risk Regulator) - Three of the world’s most powerful financial regulators have warned that individual nations cannot contain some of the risks posed by the explosive growth of privately traded derivatives and must collaborate across borders.