(Feb. 10) G-20 finance ministers & central bankers from the world's largest economies say they have made "significant progress" on financial reform and expect to "finalize the methodology for identifying systemically important financial institutions beyond the banking and insurance sector by the end of 2015."

(Feb. 10) The European Securities and Markets Authority said CRA comments, which are due by Mar. 31, will help it to draft technical advice for the European Commission on credit rating regulation. The technical advice will be delivered by September, and the commission is expected to submit a report and possibly a legislative proposal to the European Parliament by January 2016.

(Feb. 9) To avoid ballooning costs from years of additional pension checks, some companies are paying insurers to take over their plans. Demand for such pension risk transfer deals eventually will eclipse the insurance industry's capacity and provide an opening for investment banks to sell securities known as death derivatives, experts say.

(Feb. 12) The SEC's Investor Advisory Committee unanimously recommended the agency shorten the trade settlement cycle for equities, municipal and corporate bonds, and unit investment trust from the trade day plus three business days ("T plus three") to "T plus one" business day. The recommendation is not binding on the SEC, but Chair Mary Jo White said the agency is "quite focused" on the settlement cycle.

(Feb. 12) Treasury's Office of Financial Research is developing a storm-warning system for financial markets to focus on how the actions of individual agents, such as banks or traders, create chain reactions that can threaten the global economy. Combined with the OFR's ability to subpoena data from Wall Street, the agent-based models could be a significant addition to what the OFR director calls the agency's "prudential tool kit." OFR tracks and reports systemic risk to the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Researchers hope to start running live data by the end of 2015.