More US regional and community banks should be transitioning from the Libor benchmark to market-based rates, said John Williams, president of the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

“This is going to be a big priority for us,” he said at an industry conference* last week. “We are now entering the stage where we really want to see more of the regional and community banks get involved in this.”

EU clearinghouses will likely not be required to hold additional capital to cushion a failure, MLex has learned, despite calls from the world’s biggest banks and asset managers that they should take a higher share of losses.

The U-turn is contained in a compromise proposal from EU member states on Brussels' recovery and resolution provisions in draft regulation for clearinghouses. The Council of the EU is finalizing its proposals for the new law, which represents the negotiating stance it will take into discussions with the European Parliament.

UK and US clearinghouses could have much more clearcut access to EU markets in the future than they have feared, after a senior EU official suggested new rules may depart from advice given by European watchdogs.

Patrick Pearson, the European Commission's head of financial markets infrastructure, also hinted that UK clearinghouses will get an one-year extension of temporary access to customers in the bloc.

European watchdogs’ post-Brexit guidance last week for clearinghouses outside the bloc embraces a broad oversight approach criticized by the US and industry for leaving too much discretion to EU authorities.

The European Securities and Market Authority has said its 14 indicators for determining which non-EU clearinghouses pose systemic threats were relatively undefined to ensure that regulatory assessments weren’t overly constrained.

EU banks are set to see a sharp rise in capital requirements as global norms correct a supposedly overoptimistic assessment of risk. They are going to have a hard time persuading regulators that this creates a risk of an economic slowdown.

The extra 135 billion euros ($149 billion) in capital which the sector could need to raise by 2026 will hit a sector that is already struggling to turn a profit — but there is scant evidence it will damage the real economy.