The regulation of shadow banking advances step by
step. While some international recommendations are
still in the making, the EU has started with some laws
for implementation. The first proposal, dealing with
money market funds, has been stopped by the
financial lobby in the Parliament. Arguing that the
proposal – already watered-down compared to
international recommendations – would close down all
such funds, the lobby was successful and the
committee decided to take the law off the agenda two
weeks ago. Another issue is shadow banking activities
such as the lending of securities. A new law proposal
by the European Commission aims for more
transparency of these activities and prior consent by
the actual owner of the securities. It remains to be
seen if the financial lobby will also bring down this law.