G7 pushes for greater disclosure of banks' losses
The G7 and FSF is also expected to announce a UK-US working group – of senior government and regulatory figures - who will develop ways of monitoring the banking system
The G7 and FSF is also expected to announce a UK-US working group – of senior government and regulatory figures - who will develop ways of monitoring the banking system
The largest global lenders are facing political pressure to fully declare the
extent of their losses experienced during the US mortgage crises, which led to
the international credit squeeze.
The move follows a meeting of G7 leaders and the Financial Stability Forum at
the weekend – who said the lack of clarity was exacerbating the crises.
The leaders took into account an FSF report into the recent crises which
called for greater clarity and a review of accounting rules. The FSF found that
some companies failed to properly price the risk of exposures to off-balance
sheet vehicles, at precisely the time that it became difficult or expensive to
raise funds to deal with the issue.
The G7 and FSF is also expected to announce a UK-US working group – of senior
government and regulatory figures – who will develop ways of monitoring the
banking system, following meetings between Alistair Darling and US Treasury
Secretary Hank Paulson, the
Times
reported.
After talks in Rome on the weekend, the FSF said: ‘Financial institutions
should continue enhancing their disclosures of risk exposures . . . While the
necessary deleveraging has been ongoing since last summer, the process is being
complicated by a lack of transparency and valuation difficulties from some
credit instruments.’
Further reading:
Watchdogs push for accounting rules review
FSF
report on Observations on Risk Management Practices during the Recent Market
Turbulence