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Graham Bishop
Articles from 14-20 January 2022
General Financial Policy
MEPs debated the French Presidency’s priorities with Emmanuel Macron : “Europe should become a cultural, democratic and educational power (...) we have the strength and the means”, he concluded. View Article
EURACTIV: Centre-left Scholz and Sánchez far apart on EU fiscal rules : Sánchez had high expectations of Monday’s visit by Scholz, who took over from chancellor Angela Merkel last month, with sources saying he saw their closer “ideological fit” as a chance to rebuild Madrid-Berlin relations. View Article
EURACTIV: Germany, France show divisions on EU budget rules : Germany and France laid out differing visions for the future of the European economy, signalling a fight later this year to overhaul the bloc’s strict rules on government spending. View Article
CER: What Italy's Presidential election means for Europe : The election of a new Italian president could threaten the survival of Mario Draghi’s government of national unity, and will mark the beginning of the 2023 general election campaign. View Article
Remarks by Paschal Donohoe following the Eurogroup meeting of 17 January 2022 : We continue to be very much aware of the risks and challenges that lie ahead. This is why the second item on our agenda was a discussion on where we are with corporate solvency ... View Article
Remarks by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the ECOFIN press conference : We welcome the French Presidency's intention to make progress...on the Capital Markets Union and Banking Union... focus in other areas such as anti-money laundering, digital finance and sustainable finance... tax policy: in particular implementing last year's OECD tax agreement,.. View Article
Project Syndicate's Stark, Mayer, Schnabl: The ECB's Existential Dilemma : For years, the European Central Bank has been succumbing to political interests and pursuing objectives beyond the scope of its primary mandate: maintaining price stability. But now that inflationary pressures are building, the ECB’s credibility is on the line. View Article
IOSCO good practices aim to foster cooperation through global supervisory colleges : The report Lessons Learned from the Use of Global Supervisory Colleges provides a framework forsecurities regulators seeking to create new global supervisory colleges for sectors of financial marketswhere they are not currently used... View Article
BIS's Carstens speeech: Digital currencies and the soul of money : My main message today is simple: the soul of money belongs neither to a big tech nor to an anonymous ledger. The soul of money is trust. So the question becomes: which institution is best placed to generate trust? View Article
European Parliament: Future of Europe: Conference Plenary discusses Citizens’ Panels’ recommendations : The Plenary will take stock of the 90 recommendations by the Panels on ‘European democracy / Values and rights, rule of law, security’ and ‘Climate change, environment / Health’. View Article
Banking Union
EBA confirms the continued application of COVID-19 related reporting and disclosure requirements until further notice : Uncertainty of COVID 19 situation persists, and so the need to monitor exposures and the credit quality of loans with public support measures in those Member States, where those are still relevant. View Article
Capital Markets Union
InsuranceEurope: EC’s Insurance Recovery and Resolution Directive must not be a “copy paste” from banking regulation : The EC’s proposals to implement a framework for recovery and resolution go beyond what is necessary given the extensive safeguards that are already in place to protect policyholders. In view of the specific characteristics of the insurance business and the existing instruments under Solvency II, there is no need for such an extensive IRRD. View Article
Solvency II review must correct excessive capital and volatility, maintain SCR as supervisory intervention point, improve proportionality an : While the Commission’s proposals include a range of helpful and necessary changes, they also include elements which would undermine the improvements and/or add avoidable costs. View Article
AMCC publishes Report of the survey on corporate bond market microstructures and participant behaviours : While there are some gaps in the survey responses, the feedback may help in contributing to paint a picture of the different corporate bond market structures across key regional and national jurisdictions, as well as the market participant behaviours and drivers in times of market stress.. View Article
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)
GRI: Most companies align with SDGs – but more to do on assessing progress : A new study has revealed that four-in-five companies assessed now include a commitment in their sustainability reports to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), yet fewer than half set measurable targets for how their actions contribute towards fulfilling the Goals. View Article
Invest Europe to Set ESG Reporting Standards for European Private Equity & Venture Capital Industry : The new reporting standard will be developed and established by summer 2022, and will enable private equity firms to navigate and comply with the rising demands for action and openness on their ESG activities. View Article
EFAMA: CSRD - Why we need to get improved corporate sustainability data by 2024 : Investors, asset managers and civil society organisations call for the prompt implementation of the reform on corporate sustainability reporting and EU standards View Article
Protecting Customers
OECD/Commission: Financial competence framework for adults in the European Union : The framework promotes a shared understanding of the financial competences adults need to make sound decisions on personal finance. View Article
Fin Tech Regulation
ISDA: Developing Contractual Standards for Crypto Derivatives : As in any wholesale market, over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives have a vital role to play in broadening market access, facilitating risk management and price discovery, deepening liquidity, and providing greater certainty and flexibility to market participants. View Article
IMF: Crypto Prices Move More in Sync With Stocks, Posing New Risks : There’s a growing interconnectedness between virtual assets and financial markets.... Crypto assets such as Bitcoin have matured from an obscure asset class with few users to an integral part of the digital asset revolution, raising financial stability concerns. View Article
Speech by Executive Vice-President Vestager on the Digital Services Act : Following the successful debate and vote for the Digital Markets Act, I look forward to today's debate on the Parliament's position on the Digital Services Act. View Article
IOSCO consults on measures to address risks arising from digitalisation of retail marketing and distribution : Growth in digitalisation and use of social media is changing the way financial services and productsare marketed and distributed. View Article
Economic Policies Impacting EU Finance
Vox: Revising the European fiscal framework, part 1: Rules : The authors of this column present a proposal to strengthen the European fiscal framework based on two elements: a revision of the fiscal rules, and a plan to create a European Debt Agency to absorb the debt accumulated during the pandemic. View Article
Vox: Revising the European fiscal framework, part 2: Debt management : The authors focus on the debt management aspect of their proposal to strengthen the European fiscal framework. They argue for moving a portion of national debts under the umbrella of a European Debt Management Agency, View Article
POLITICO: Europe’s veto threatens to stall global tax reform : Estonia, Hungary and Poland are unhappy with plans to introduce a minimum global corporate tax rate of 15 percent by January 2023...Their finance ministers protested on Tuesday the planned timetable, which G20 countries agreed to in October as part of a wider overhaul of corporate tax rules. View Article
Brexit and the City
Reuters: EU gives itself three more years to end euro clearing reliance on London : The European Union will extend permission for banks in the bloc to continue using clearing houses in London for a further three years from June while efforts to end "over-reliance" on Britain are stepped up, its financial services chief said on Tuesday. View Article
ESMA December statement:ESMA concludes Tier 2 CCP assessment under Article 25(2c) of EMIR : Based on its assessment, ESMA concludes that it will not recommend to the EuropeanCommission to derecognise a Tier 2 CCP, or one of its services, at this point in time. View Article
FCA confirms approach to European firms temporarily operating in the UK : The?regime was designed to ensure that European firms operating in the UK via a passport when the Brexit transition period ended could continue operating temporarily while they seek full authorisation in the UK. View Article
House of Lords: Central bank digital currencies: a solution in search of a problem? Report published: The report concludes there is no convincing case for why the UK needs a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The committee found that while a CBDC may provide some advantages, it could present significant challenges for financial stability and the protection of privacy. View Article
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