In June, a forum of Europe's biggest insurers agreed to implement new Market Consistent Embedded Value (MCEV) rules in 2009.

ECONOMIST: Investors still struggle to understand Europe��s insurers

More controversially, the government plans to suspend mark-to-market accounting rules, which force banks to value their holdings at market prices.

ECONOMIST: The financial crisis finally catches up with Japan

The most immediate is the mark-to-market, or so-called fair-value accounting, rules that regulators have been enforcing since the early 1990s.

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