BIS

At their meeting in Basel today, the central bank Governors of the Global Economy Meeting (GEM) [1] appointed Paul Tucker as chairman of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS). Mr Tucker is Deputy Governor, Financial Stability, at the Bank of England.

The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have published their final report on the OTC derivatives data that should be collected, stored and disseminated by trade repositories (TRs).

The Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) today announced the appointment of Agustín Carstens as chair of the BIS Consultative Council for the Americas (CCA). Mr Carstens is Governor of the Bank of Mexico.

At their meeting in Basel this weekend, the central bank Governors of the Global Economy Meeting (GEM) 1 appointed William C Dudley as chairman of the Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS). Mr Dudley is president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and has been the Chairman of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) since May 2009.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued today a consultative paper on The internal audit function in banks.

The objective of the proposed guidance, which revises the Committee's 2001 document Internal Audit in Banks and the Supervisor's Relationship with Auditors, is to help supervisors assess the effectiveness of a bank's internal audit function. The guidance reflects developments in supervisory and banking practices and incorporates lessons drawn from the financial crisis.

Bank for International Settlements

After an increase of only 3% in the second half of 2010, total notional amounts outstanding of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives rose by 18% in the first half of 2011, reaching $708 trillion by the end of June 2011. Notional amounts outstanding of credit default swaps (CDS) grew by 8%, while outstanding equity-linked contracts went up by 21%.

The BIS Quarterly Review for June 2011, released today, discusses how the reassessment of growth and inflation prospects in the advanced economies, as well as euro area sovereign debt concerns, drove asset prices.

The June issue also provides highlights from the latest BIS data on international banking and financial activity.

In addition, it features four articles (more detailed abstracts follow):

Today the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced that it has completed its review of and finalised the Basel III capital treatment for counterparty credit risk in bilateral trades. The review resulted in a minor modification of the credit valuation adjustment, which is the risk of loss caused by changes in the credit spread of a counterparty due to changes in its credit quality (also referred to as the market value of counterparty credit risk).

Representatives from central banks, ministries of finance, and supervisory agencies from 34 advanced and emerging market countries gathered in Washington today to discuss ways to reduce system-wide risks in the global financial system and how to improve the so-called macro-prudential policy framework.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published today the national responses from its members to an FSB survey designed to monitor the implementation of the G20’s recommendations for strengthening financial stability. The survey was conducted by the FSB Implementation Monitoring Network in September 2010 and the responses were summarised in the FSB progress report on implementation, that was submitted to the G20 Seoul Summit in November 2010.