Dow Jones & Company
Financial Industry Leaders Call for Tougher Regulation and Strengthening of a Global Regulator
Dow Jones & Company / 08.12.2009 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Leaders at The Wall Street Journal Future of Finance Initiative Identify Urgent Priorities for Global Recovery HORSHAM, England, Dec. 8, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Wall Street Journal Future of Finance Initiative concluded its second conference today with the release of urgent priorities for rebuilding the global financial system. The priorities ranked by the Journal's Future of Finance participants address the most pressing issues facing both the private sector and international regulators. More than 100 leading CEOs and international financial executives, top fund managers, policy makers, officials from G-20 nations and prize-winning economists gathered in West Sussex, United Kingdom at South Lodge Hotel for the conference, which began Monday evening. The program included Rt Hon David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party; Rt Hon Alistair Darling, chancellor of the Exchequer; Robert E. Diamond, Jr., president, Barclays PLC and chief executive officer, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth Management; Mario Draghi, governor, Bank of Italy and chairman, Financial Stability Board; Richard Gnodde, co-chief executive officer, Goldman Sachs International; James H. Leigh-Pemberton, chief executive officer, United Kingdom Credit Suisse; Alessandro Profumo, chief executive officer, UniCredit Group; George Soros, chairman, Soros Fund Management, LLC; and Paul Volcker, chairman, President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board Former Chairman, U.S. Federal Reserve. This international meeting builds on the results from the first Future of Finance Initiative held last March in Washington, D.C., and is designed to ensure that many perspectives are heard at this critical time, as governments are in the midst of decisions that will redefine the international financial system. After discussions with leading finance experts and policy makers, the participants met in working groups charged with identifying key priorities in four of the most urgent areas of finance: too big to fail, international regulation, regulatory frontier, and financial innovation. The 20 priorities ranked in order that were set include: 1) HIGHER CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS Financial institutions whose systemic importance requires national authorities to underwrite them if they fail should be required to hold more capital. This should include increasing risk weightings, asset/liability limits based on business model rather than simple capital ratios, as well as contingent capital and dynamic provisioning. 2) EMPOWER FSB The Financial Stability Board should be empowered to define and seek agreement on broad-based principles which national regulators should try to make operational in consultation with market participants. 3) PROMOTE RISK MANAGEMENT Require board to demonstrate a full understanding of risks inherent in new products. Elevate risk managers to at least the same level as product makers and give them adequately representation at board level. Create globally recognised qualifications for risk managers, and implement standard certification through a risk 'driving test.' 4) IMPROVE REGULATOR RESOURCES Assure regulators are high quality and have deep knowledge of the industries and institutions they oversee. Regulator compensation should be competitive with compensation in regulated industries. Industry should 'second' senior people to support FSB and regulatory bodies. 5) BETTER GOVERNANCE Hold systemically important institutions to higher standards of governance. Chief risk officers should report to the board and not the chief executive. Achieve greater transparency. 6) AVOID REGULATORY ARBITRAGE To make global co-operation feasible and promote a level playing field, regulations should be of an achievable scope. Financial activities of similar substance and economic reality should be regulated in the same way. 7) OVERHAUL RATING AGENCIES Restore investor confidence in rating agencies by eliminating conflicts of interest between agencies and issuers, returning to an 'investor-pays' model, distinguishing between ratings of corporate debt and structured financial products and promoting new entrants to the credit-rating business. 8) MARKET INFRASTRUCTURE Create a market structure to facilitate orderly unwinding of failed financial institutions, including greater use of central clearing. 9) COUNTRIES SHOULD FOLLOW FSB G20 countries should commit to implement in their jurisdictions the regulatory provisions put to them by the FSB, without significant amendment or supplementation. 10) NEW PRODUCT TRANSPARENCY Improve structural and price transparency of new products, using modelling and stress-testing to ensure that downside scenarios are as visible as upside scenarios. 11) REGULATORS ADOPT PRIORITIES Global regulators over the next 18 months should achieve agreement on the adoption of IFRS accounting standards and appropriate capital and liquidity standards. 12) EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT The consequences of bad actions must include real 'wallet harm' in order to be effective and enforcement must be consistent across national boundaries. 13) GLOBAL IMBALANCE FOCUS G20 should focus on resolving global economic imbalances and integrate that process with discussions on financial stability. 14) REBUILD RESPONSIBILITY Regulation alone is not the cure. The financial services industry must show cultural leadership and promote responsible behaviour by all practitioners. 15) STRENGTHEN INFRASTRUCTURE Ensure financial infrastructure is commensurate with the innovation that it supports, both at the firm and the market level. 16) RESIST OVER-REGULATION Because financial innovation is central to the growth and critical to a speedy recovery, the G20 and successors should recognise that new rules and protocols should not thwart innovation and the cost of regulation must be balanced against the benefits. 17) REGULATORY MANDATE Regulators should have a clear and strong mandate for financial stability, and should cooperate across borders and maintain a level playing field. 18) LIVING WILLS Systemically important banks should present regulators with living wills demonstrating how they would wind down business in the event of unsustainable losses. Cross border arrangements should provide for burden-sharing in the event of failure. 19) DON'T REGULATE BORROWERS Regulators should focus on the source of credit, not borrowers, using capital requirements to restrict excessive leverage among borrowers, including alternative-asset managers. 20) CLARIFY IMF ROLE IMF should focus on global imbalances and defer to the FSB on financial stability principles while continuing to have surveillance responsibilities. IMF quotas should be revised to reflect global economic realities. The results of the Wall Street Journal Future of Finance Initiative will be covered in a global Journal Report to be published on Dec. 14. For more information and a list of key participants at The Wall Street Journal Future of Finance Initiative, please go to https://futurefinance.wsj.com. About The Wall Street Journal Founded in 1889, The Wall Street Journal is the world's leading business publication. Boasting more than two million subscribers, the Journal is the largest newspaper by total paid circulation and has the largest individually paid circulation of the top 25 U.S. newspapers. The Wall Street Journal franchise, with a global audience of 3.8 million, also comprises The Wall Street Journal Asia, The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the leading provider of business and financial news and analysis on the Web with more than one million subscribers and 26 million users per month. WSJ.com is the flagship site of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, which also includes MarketWatch.com, Barrons.com and AllThingsD.com. The Wall Street Journal Radio Network services news and information to more than 375 radio stations in the U.S. The Journal holds 33 Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, and, in 2009, was ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the 10th consecutive year. The Wall Street Journal logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2641 CONTACT: Dow Jones & Company Emily J. Edmonds (212) 416-2635 emily.edmonds@dowjones.com Kate Dobbin +44-20-7842-9684 kate.dobbin@dowjones.com News Source: NASDAQ OMX 08.12.2009 Financial News distributed by DGAP. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Dow Jones & Company United States Phone: Fax: E-mail: Internet: ISIN: US9900683718 WKN: End of News DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aktuelle News
Aktuelle Berichte
Keine Berichte gefunden
Anstehende Events
Keine Events gefunden
Webcasts
Keine Webcasts gefunden