US regulators have intensified efforts to gather intelligence on banks' trading positions in a move that could herald a drive to ensure traders' bonuses are based on real profits rather than unrealised gains that might never materialise.
Wall Street executives said that regulators, led by the Federal Reserve, had been asking major banks in recent weeks to provide a detailed breakdown of their balance sheets, with particular attention to their trading books.
The authorities wanted to know what proportion of a bank's balance sheet was held in more liquid positions and how much was held in derivatives and other trading positions whose profitability might not be known for years, they added.