In terms of regulations, the Fed has decided to put back the application of new prudential capital calculations, which appeared to be more restrictive, by two years. Drawn up in 2005, they were due to come into force on 31 March 2009. However, these new requirements were threatening to further destabilise America’s already fragile banking system.

Indeed, introducing tougher solvency requirements is virtually unthinkable at a time when the US Treasury has already been forced to bail out most of the nation's banks. Nonetheless, financial system reforms are continuing to take shape in the US and UK, with early April's G20 Summit looking primarily to map out a framework for these reforms.

In the UK, the Financial Services Authority has published the report drawn up by its Chairman, Lord Turner, calling for a major overhaul of the financial regulation system. This report makes 28 proposals, which include further strengthening bank solvency rules, significantly raising the level of capital required for trading activities, introducing a dynamic provisioning system, registering rating agencies and setting up a European organisation in charge of macroprudential supervision.

Criticised for having failed in its mission, the UK regulator is also going to tighten up its controls and include any elements that had previously been left out, such as the remuneration systems applied by banks.

In the US, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has just outlined the reform of America’s financial regulatory system, aimed primarily at strengthening oversight by the American authorities. As a result, all financial institutions with a systemic risk will be subject to strict transparency and supervision rules for counterparties and clearing. In addition, the main hedge funds as well as private equity funds and venture capital firms will need to be registered with the SEC. Full details of these new regulations have not yet been released, and they are expected to be discussed with the US Congress and during the G20 Summit in early April.

Another issue on the agenda for the coming G20 concerns pay packages in the broadest sense for senior executives and managers in the banking industry, as well as government-supported businesses. In both the US and Europe, pay packages of all kinds have been in the spotlight. America is looking to introduce a salary cap for banks' senior executives, and has tabled a proposal for any bonuses paid to managers in banks that have been bailed out by the government to be taxed at 90%. In France, the government has published a decree setting the conditions under which businesses that have received financial support from the government will be temporarily forbidden from awarding any stock options, bonuses or other benefits.

The banks in question have signed an amendment to the agreements struck with the government under the support plans, factoring in this governmental decree. For many observers, this decree, whose actual scope is quite limited, represents more of a headline-grabbing initiative than any genuine attempt to regulate the executive pay system.

The Netherlands, which has already forbidden banks and insurers that have received government support from paying their bosses any bonuses, is now looking to go one step further by restricting bonuses for less senior managers.