Boehner: U.S. should hold Iran’s feet to the fire
Boehner is the top Republican in Congress.
Parties in the outgoing Slovak government began talks with
the opposition to reach a deal on ratifying a plan to
strengthen the euro zone’s rescue fund. Slovakia is the last
country in the 17-member currency zone that still has to
approve the plan.U.S. stocks opened higher while safe-haven Treasuries
fell.
By Huw JonesLONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Britain warned the European Union
on Tuesday to stop protectionism from undermining the bloc’s
single market, urging it to reinforce competition in derivatives
and other markets.The EU’s executive European Commission is readying a welter
of new rules and Britain faces criticism from its financial
industry for not being aggressive enough in defending its corner
against French and German interests.”We will work with the commission to enable it to meet its
duty to protect and promote the single market in financial
services, to meet its responsibility to secure robust and fair
regulation in the interest of all its 27 members,” UK Financial
Services Minister Mark Hoban told the CityUK lobby’s annual
dinner.The commission will publish a draft reform of EU securities
rules next week that would have a major impact on Britain, the
bloc’s biggest trading centre.Earlier on Tuesday Hoban said it would be “disproportionate
and severely disruptive” if Brussels were to use the reform to
abolish so-called execution-only transactions where trading is
not accompanied first with advice.”It seems the commission has listened,” Hoban added.Britain is also alarmed that some EU states are pushing to
water down a global set of rules known as Basel III that will
require banks to hold more capital.And it fears competition in derivatives markets may be
eroded by a major merger and a new derivatives law now being
finalised.Syed Kamall, an EU lawmaker representing London and member
of the European Parliament’s influential economic affairs
committee, said that “facts don’t matter” when his colleagues
come to approving new financial rules.”It’s based on prejudice and ignorance,” Kamall said, urging
Britain’s financial industry to get out and build allies with
counterparts in other EU states that back their positions.STRUCTURAL MEASURESHoban said the commission must stay on the front foot to
protect competition in every sector of the EU financial market,
“by behavioural measures for all players where necessary, and
through structural measures in particularly significant cases.”The commission’s competition arm is studying whether to
approve the planned takeover of NYSE Euronext by
Deutsche Boerse .Unchanged, the deal would create the world’s biggest bourse,
with more than 90 percent of Europe’s on-exchange derivatives
trading, and a powerful presence in clearing.The UK was able to wrest some concessions from EU states
earlier this month to ensure competition in clearing derivatives
and other securities is proposed in next week’s draft Markets in
Financial Instruments (MiFID) reform.”With respect to the clearing obligation, the commission has
also made an important commitment to close loopholes and ensure
fair and open access in future legislation,” Hoban said.”We now look forward to the Commission’s proposal in the
MiFID review by the end of the month,” he added said.However, there is no guarantee the European Parliament and
EU states will keep the competition provision intact.Prioritization of planned new rules will be important as
member states come under “severe political pressure in the
coming months to delay, obfuscate, and pander to vested
interests in the EU … to fragment markets by geography,
currency or firm,” Hoban said.He reiterated Britain’s opposition to the Commission’s plans
for a tax on financial transactions.
