G20 Nov. 2010 ~ *By June 30, 2011 ~ G-20 Summit ends with currency truce and guidlines to be met
May 13, 2010Geithner Confers with EU’s Barnier on Economy
Washington — The _United _States and the _European _Union are taking stock of progress in implementing the Group of 20 major economies’ financial regulatory commitments that emerged from the 2009 London and Pittsburgh summits.
The demand for a strengthened global financial regulatory system grew as a direct result of the 2008 economic crisis, which generated the steepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
U.S. _Treasury Secretary _Timothy _Geithner met with European Commissioner _Michel _Barnier, who is in charge of overseeing financial markets for the EU, in Washington May 12 and agreed to cooperate more closely in strengthening the global financial system, the Treasury Department said in a prepared statement.
“In particular, they agreed on the importance of reducing systemic risk and the too-big-to-fail problem by raising prudential standards,” Treasury said.
A specific area of focus for regulatory reform is derivatives. A derivative is a contract whose value is determined by something else, meaning it has no actual value by itself. Derivatives largely are traded in the United States privately among the nation’s five largest banking firms — JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo. A financial reform measure being considered by the U.S. Congress would require that these financial instruments be traded on public exchanges for better oversight and more controlled risk.
The Treasury Department said Geithner and Barnier agreed to work toward a common implementation date in 2011 for global rules governing trading by banks in securities and derivatives. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in Switzerland, an international advisory panel, is developing minimum regulatory standards, Treasury said.
In addition to derivatives, regulators are also examining the importance of reducing systemic risk, stronger capital and liquidity requirements for banks and major investment firms, and stronger crisis management and resolution tools to allow regulators to manage the failure of a major firm without exposing taxpayers to losses, Treasury said.
President _O proposed sweeping regulatory reforms in June 2009 and by December 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives had passed legislation largely along the lines the president sought. The bill became snarled in the U.S. Senate, but Democrats ultimately sent a measure to the floor for debate in April and it is being considered. Any measure will ultimately have to be agreed upon by the House and Senate, usually in a conference committee, before being sent to the president for signature into law.
Treasury also announced that Geithner will attend the G20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting is Busan, South Korea, June 4–5.
The G20 leaders’ summit is June 26–27 in Toronto immediately after the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Huntsville, Ontario. And the second G20 summit will be held in Seoul, November 11–12. G20 Nov. 2010 ~ *By June 30, 2011 ~ G-20 Summit ends with currency truce and guidlines to be met
http://www.uspolicy.be/headline/geithner-confers-eu%E2%80%99s-barnier-economy
