May 16, 2012 - Finance ministers from across the European Union (EU) have finalised an agreement that will overhaul regulation in the region's banking industry.

May 1, 2012 - Several major banks across the US have faced criticism during their Federal Reserve stress tests, it has been said. Sources with knowledge of the situation have told Bloomberg that some of the 19 largest financiers that underwent examinations by the Fed were questioned about the way in which they had planned their dividends and calculated losses.

April 16, 2012 - International banking and securities regulators have set out new and more demanding standards for operators of payments, clearing and settlement systems as part of an international effort to boost the resiliency of the financial markets.

May 15, 2012 - Recent problems seen at JP Morgan Chase provide solid evidence as to why the government had to intervene and change the rules in the US banking system, Barack Obama has said.

April 27, 2012 - Almost seven out of 10 (68 per cent) North American capital markets executives believe a significant portion of their firms' resources will be consumed by regulatory burdens and data latency issues, while 96 per cent admit that stress testing has not addressed all the important risks to the banking system, according to a recent survey by Sybase Inc., an SAP® Company (NYSE: SAP) and a leading provider of enterprise and mobile software.

April 16, 2012 - The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS) and the Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today published the final report on the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures.

May 11, 2012 - Spending on market surveillance programmes covering equities and derivatives trading across Europe will grow by at least eight per cent in 2012, increasing from EUR105 million in 2011 to EUR126 million by 2014, according to research from Tabb Group.

April 23, 2012 - Major overseas banks may be made exempt from strict new US laws relating to derivatives, sources have indicated. In the near future, regulators are planning to implement legal changes with the intention of cutting the risk associated with derivatives in order to reduce the likelihood of any repeat of the recent monetary crisis.

April 12, 2012 - Stress tests faced by banks in the US could be altered in the near future as the Federal Reserve seeks to improve this process. That is if comments made by Daniel Tarullo, a board member of the Fed, are anything to go by, as he has revealed the body is currently exploring ways in which this method of monitoring the performance of financiers could be enhanced.

May 9 , 2012 - Banks should be afforded more time and patience from regulators to enable them to improve their business in such difficult economic circumstances. That is the opinion of Sir John Gieve, former deputy governor of the Bank of England, who believes that giving financiers additional leeway would support lending and stimulate growth, the Daily Telegraph reports.

April 19, 2012 - The Federal Reserve says banks will have two years to comply with a rule that would ban them from trading for their own profit. The so-called Volcker rule is expected to take effect this summer. But the Fed clarified Thursday that it won't enforce it until July 2014.

April 12, 2012 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged that Goldman, Sachs & Co. lacked adequate policies and procedures to address the risk that during weekly "huddles," the firm's analysts could share material, nonpublic information about upcoming research changes.