The International Accounting Standards Board has started the formal process of considering ways to reduce complexity in IAS 39. Its discussion paper sets out thoughts on the way financial instruments are measured and some ideas for simplifying hedge accounting.
In September 2007 the EU Commission issued an additional request for CESR to review the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) as part of its annual report on their compliance with the IOSCO Code.
The paper has two objectives. Firstly, to provide analysis of the role of credit rating agencies in structured finance markets. Secondly, to propose several recommendations for modifying the IOSCO Code of Conduct Fundamentals for Credit Rating Agencies.
The paper is published for information and comment. Comments as to whether the paper correctly analyzes the role of credit rating agencies in structured finance markets and as to the proposed recommendations for modifying the IOSCO Code of Conduct Fundamentals for Credit Rating Agencies would be welcomed.
This consultation document is published by the Pensions Regulator, the regulator of work- based pension arrangements. We propose to issue guidance outlining how trustees should go about deciding on funding assumptions for a defined benefit pension scheme.
There is a special focus on mortality assumptions with some background material provided. Given the technical nature of this topic, it will be particularly important for trustees to ensure that their actuaries guide them through the issues and explain the implications of different options.
In their March 2006 Consultation Paper on the implementation of the Transparency
Directive (TD), the FSA explained that responsibility for overseeing the Major
Shareholders Notification regime (MSN) would pass from the (then) DTI to the FSA.
This meant the (then) Companies Bill would give the FSA powers to extend the regime beyond the disclosure of ‘ownership’ of substantial equity positions to require the disclosure of substantial ‘economic interests’ in shares held through derivatives such as Contracts for Difference (CfDs).
Rexam has won The Treasurer’s Deals of the Year Award for its hybrid bond, the first from a UK corporate, with Vodafone named as Treasury Team of the Year.
All modern economies benefit from financial markets which are efficient, fair and – above all – stable. Recent months have seen a period of sustained turbulence and instability in global financial markets, with financial firms across the world affected.
