One of the most debated issues since the beginning of the financial crisis is the extent to which fair value accounting contributed to the stress faced by financial institutions. Contrary to what many observers believe, the recent accounting debate has focused less on the choice of measurement criteria - amortised cost or fair value - than on how changes in value should be reported in the income statements.

Before the onset of the financial crisis, bank regulators left governance arrangements to the discretion of individual institutions. Very few jurisdictions had devised extensive bank-specific governance requirements. It did not matter how boards governed their banks, as long as they met substantive prudential requirements.

The European commissioner for competition is one of the most important and influential officials of the EU. In her own words, the incumbent, Neelie Kroes, believes that the aim of promoting a fair and free environment for businesses in the European single market has to be pursued by acting as a referee.

On December 17, 2009, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) published its much-anticipated proposals for strengthening the resilience of the banking sector and the international framework for liquidity risk management. The proposals are wide ranging and will have a significant impact on banks and other regulated financial institutions.

A bank employee recently asked me: "As a trader, my bonus is derived directly from my profit and loss, which is accrued over the quarter and kept in a separate account. It does not go into the firm's bottom line and then back out to me. Also, like most traders, I accrue 2% of my gains in a loss provision account in case I have a major write-down in the year. My bonus is 10% of my profit for the year. If I make $50m for the year my bonus is $5m. What does my bonus have to do with the mortgage-backed securities [MBS] trader who is sitting on losses? Did I or did I not show a profit of $40m to the firm's bottom line?"

The financial crisis of 2007-08 had an immediate impact on the world's economies, with deep recession experienced across the globe. The longer-term impact on the banks will also be significant, as regulatory authorities learn lessons from the crash and implement new supervisory rules. Regulation arising as a result of the crash will indeed heavily influence bank business models, compared to what was practised in the past decade. In this article we discuss how banks will have to adjust their strategy and approach in response to new regulatory requirements.

As the world's leaders debate the role of banking and how best to regulate it, there are many elements of Islamic banking that could provide guidelines.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

In the current climate, there has been a marked increase in the willingness of stakeholders to litigate their financial services disputes. Given cost constraints, however, there is also a desire to settle financial disputes out of court or in a tribunal if at all possible. It is therefore a pertinent time to examine the attempted harmonisation across EU member states of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) schemes for financial disputes, especially as the results of the responses to the European Commission's December 2008 consultation paper in this area were published in September.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

During the past two years, investors have faced one of the most challenging environments in living memory. When confidence in banks falters and markets crash, equity and debt investors are left asking: what will aid recovery and help prevent another crisis? We would argue that changes to financial disclosure and reporting are required. Specifically, investing in banks continues to be complicated by inconsistent accounting rules, fragmented regulation and less confidence in management to deliver.

The Bracken column is named after Brendan Bracken, the founding editor of The Banker in 1926 and chairman of the modern-day Financial Times from 1945 to 1958.

For the past 20 or so years, the global financial community has tried to craft a common minimum regulatory capital standard for banks. The result has been a complicated framework that is not enforced consistently, is constantly under revision, and failed to contain contagion during the 2008 market meltdown. The time is right to consider whether this path continues to make sense.