One of the more unusual traits shared by George Bush and Bertie Ahern was their tendency for malapropisms.

European regulators seem intent on making it harder for banks to fund themselves.

Europe’s biggest banks face restrictions on lending to hedge funds in a key MEP’s proposed amendments to a bank-structure bill now making its way through the legislature.

The European Union’s 7,000 banks must by 2020 hold a new buffer of bonds that can be written down to avoid taxpayer bailouts in a crisis, the bloc’s banking watchdog said yesterday.

Bank of England governor, Mark Carney said the judgment on when to increase the benchmark rate from a record low has become "more balanced" in recent months.

Global regulators face a backlash from some of the world’s largest asset managers over plans that could single them out for tougher regulation.

A powerful global financial regulator is to scrutinise benchmarks that are used in currency trading, a first sign that the market may be kept on a tighter leash after manipulation claims.

Replacing the quote-based Libor with an index drawing on actual market trades will not happen any time soon, the benchmark’s new administrator said yesterday.

The US has largely cracked the problem of protecting taxpayers from the danger of having to bail out banks that are “too big to fail” while Europe lags behind, Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker has said.

Mark Carney, the surprise outsider choice to head the Bank of England is an overachiever with several big financial roles already notched into his belt, and is also a fan of rock band AC-DC whose lyrics can seem to mirror his life.

Chancellor George Osborne shocked the City today as he unveiled Canadian Mark Carney as the first non-British citizen to be appointed as governor of the Bank of England.

AS the euro crisis threatened to become a political one last night, the EU came under severe pressure from countries worldwide concerned that they are being dragged under by the failures to protect the single currency.

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy threw his weight behind Mario Draghi’s candidacy to head the European Central Bank yesterday, giving a major boost to the Bank of Italy chief’s hopes of succeeding Jean-Claude Trichet.

THE EU proposed that bank regulators get powers to write down lenders’ senior debt and veto new products, as part of measures to protect taxpayers from future financial crises.

THERE were violent protests outside the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh in the US yesterday where world leaders closed in on a statement calling for new restraints on banker pay.

Finance ministers from the world’s leading economies have agreed to keep exceptional anti-recession measures in place for the time being, as well as backing new controls to curb bankers’ pay and bonuses, sources close to G20 talks in London said today.