that both retail and investment banking, bis central bankers ’ speeches even if organizationally or institutionally separate, should be properly regulated, and should be careful not to have a too ample definition of market making activity. at all events, in today ’ s globalized world it is crucial to make sure that countries cooperate and agree on the appropriate stringency of financial regulation. countries should not compete by relaxing rules in order to attract financial intermediaries, as this generates negative externalities for other countries. this is a most delicate issue, and while a perfectly level playing field may not be achievable, we have to be conscious of the consequences of a “ beggar - thy - neighbour ” approach to regulation. the transition to a uniform system of rules and oversight of the financial sector must be hastened. in the euro area, and in the european union at large, the plan for a banking union is ambitious, but it goes in the right direction. some progress has been made on the convergence towards a single set of global accounting standards ; but much remains to be done. the international accounting standards board and the us financial accounting standards board expect to make progress on the two key outstanding issues of impairment of loans, where their deliberations should be completed by the end of the year, and insurance contracts, where both boards will be holding public consultations this year. of these two outstanding issues, the need for convergence on a new forward - looking expected loss approach to provisioning is of most immediate concern for end - users and from a financial stability perspective. one element that is essential for guaranteeing systemic stability is the method of measuring risk - weighted assets ( rwa ), the denominator of capital adequacy ratios. rwa measures have recently attracted increasing attention from market analysts, banks and supervisory authorities. it has been argued – and this seems to be actually the case – that the methodologies for computing rwas may not be comparable across institutions and, especially, across jurisdictions, and that they should more properly reflect risk in order to avoid ultimately jeopardising financial stability. these problems highlight the relevance of supervisory practices in determining banks ’ capital requirements ( for example, in validating internal banks ’ models for calculating risk weights ). here, rigorous micro - prudential supervision is essential. we really need to work out a single rulebook, to move with determination towards taking joint responsibility and using peer reviews as much as possible in our supervisory activity. as for the initiatives to

ignazio visco : press conference remarks by mr ignazio visco, governor of the bank of italy, at the second g20 finance ministers and bank governors meeting, 7 april 2021. * * * good afternoon, today we discussed sustainable finance and two specific topics relating to financial regulation. on sustainable finance, the discussion concerned the work plan of the sustainable finance study group, which we decided to reactivate at our february meeting and which is co - chaired by china and the united states. the group has made rapid progress in the last few weeks and, following the inputs of the presidency, has agreed to focus its work this year on three areas : the first is sustainability reporting ; the second is related to the metrics for classifying and verifying investment sustainability ; and the third concerns how to enhance the contribution of international financial institutions to the goals of the paris agreement. in addition, the group will develop a multi - year roadmap on sustainable finance to address the most pressing issues relating to sustainable development. this will help in prioritizing its activity, which will initially be focused on climate but will subsequently look at sustainability more broadly. ministers and governors concurred on the importance of this agenda and agreed that the study group should be upgraded to a fully fledged working group. as regards financial regulation, today we discussed two documents submitted by the fsb : a report on the covid - 19 support measures and the main issues concerning their future evolution, and the final evaluation report on the effects of too - big - to - fail reforms. the first report shows that in the current and still uncertain circumstances most of the covid - 19 support measures remain in place, and their withdrawal is generally not imminent. authorities tend to view the potential risks to financial stability arising from the early removal of support measures as significant, and as being greater than those associated with a late withdrawal. we, ministers and governors, shared the main message of the report, which is that the persisting uncertainty over the evolution of the pandemic and the uneven pace of the recovery across countries call for a state - contingent and data - driven approach when deciding whether to adjust or end the support measures. this should be done in a gradual and targeted way, in order to minimize long - term financial stability risks. we also agreed on the need to maintain an internationally coordinated approach in responding to the pandemic, with the support of the financial stability board ( fsb ), to ensure that the financial sector continues to