Barclays Share News (BARC)

(ShareCast News) - The Bank of England will be made to show that it is providing taxpayers with value for money under reforms unveiled today by George Osborne. Mark Carney, the governor, has agreed to open the Bank's books to the National Audit Office (NAO), bringing it into line with government departments, the BBC and the royal household. MPs have long questioned its exemption from scrutiny, with some suggesting that access might have provided a warning of Britain's vulnerability to a global financial crash. - The TimesThe Federal Reserve has announced final draft rules that require the eight leading US banks, who are deemed to be systemically important, to hold extra capital buffers totalling $200bn. - Financial TimesTighter bank regulation may end up destabilising financial markets and trigger a larger crisis than the 2008 crash, a report has warned.Researchers at the Systemic Risk Centre (SRC) at the London School of Economics said that regulation forcing banks to take the same approach to risk may end up making financial markets less safe. - The Daily TelegraphOfficials at the City watchdog have visited the offices of Barclays more than twice as often as any other bank, an indication of the concern among regulators about the lender and its scandal-hit investment bank. Barclays met supervisors at the Financial Conduct Authority 186 times last year, 101 more visits than were performed on HSBC, the second most frequently seen bank, according to figures released under a Freedom of Information request. - The TimesAn unprecedented coalition of the UK's most eminent scientific, medical and engineering bodies says immediate action must be taken by governments to avert the worst impacts of climate change. But the joint communiqué, issued by 24 academic and professional institutions, also says that tackling global warming would drive economic progress, benefit the health of millions by cutting air pollution and improve access to energy, water and food. - The Guardian The Bank of England is offering extra help to any lenders struggling to cope with the changes to the deposit protection limits, raising the prospect of flexibility for those banks and building societies caught by surprise by the rule change. Banks had complained that they had just finished training staff and printing advisory material to explain to customers that their deposits were guaranteed up to £85,000 - only for the deposit protection limit to be cut at the start of this month, forcing them to re-do much of the work. - The Daily Telegraph