Follow Us

Follow us on Twitter  Follow us on LinkedIn
 
Home>
Print Page Save to My Library <Next Article  Previous Article>
08 July 2010

This week in "Brussels"
Jump directly to
Financial Services Policy Banking Securities
Insurance Asset Management Financial Services Month in Brussels - Report
Brief Opinions/Commentaries Financial stability - policy analysis About this email

Articles from 01 July 2010 - 08 July 2010

Financial Services Policy

EP deferred the final vote on the "supervisory package" legislative resolution
With an overwhelming majority, the European Parliament sent a strong message to EU Member States that the only option for effective financial supervision is one based on a thorough reform of the current system, with the establishment of European authorities with more powers.  View Article
European Commission launches public debate on the future of pensions
The EC consultation covers many different topics, such as: longer working lives, the internal market for pensions, mobility of pensions across the EU, the future solvency regime for pension funds, the risk of employer insolvency, informed decision-making and governance at EU level.   View Article
Commission concludes UK took effective action in excessive deficit procedure
"The current economic circumstances call for a decisive fiscal consolidation, while not suffocating the nascent economic recovery. The budgetary targets presented by the UK Government are in line with this strategy", said Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn.  View Article
Olli Rehn: Stress tests will help reduce uncertainty and restore confidence
Commissioner Rehn is in favour of full transparency and advocated the extension of bank stress tests and the publication of the results by the end of July. The EC also proposes to reinforce the surveillance and correction of macroeconomic imbalances, with an alert mechanism and a corrective arm.   View Article
Belgian Presidency Programme for the ECOFIN Council meetings
The Belgian Presidency will devote its attention to the establishment of the new supervisory architecture for the EU financial system by the end of 2010. It will further examine legislative initiatives aiming at tackling the crisis, such as AIFMD, derivatives market or naked short-selling of CDS.   View Article
MEPs call for a stronger role for the EC in economic governance and a greater focus on social fairness
Liberal leader Verhofstadt also called for sanctions to be part of not only the Stability and Growth Pact but also of other areas, for instance the EU 2020   View Article
ACCA: G20's four pillars for agenda reform built on uneven foundations
ACCA stresses that stability is crucial ahead of the next meeting in Seoul later in the year and there is a real risk that complacency could plunge the global economy back into danger.  View Article
El Pais: Spanish Presidency has been successful but difficult
Commission President Barroso, said that in the current situation of great stress and crisis for the European economy, Zapatero's management of EU affairs was fundamental.   View Article
EPC: Exploring the mobile eco-system to promote SEPA
The EPC consults on its "White Paper on mobile Payments" which aims to foster a common understanding between payment service providers and bank customers.  View Article
Japan FSA and US SEC hold meeting on regulatory reforms
Taking into account the current developments of securities markets in Japan and the U.S., the FSA and the SEC discussed various issues including regulatory reform, enhancement of cooperation on enforcement and supervision, and developments surrounding accounting standards and auditing.   View Article
Hill: Senators issue letter easing worries on derivates business
Democrats have taken steps to ease concerns raised by Warren Buffett about Wall Street reform’s impact on trillions of dollars in existing derivatives. Potential new capital and margin regulations meant to offset risk in some trades should not apply retroactively to existing derivatives.   View Article

Banking

European Parliament ushers in a new era for bankers' bonuses
MEPs approved new rules on bonuses that will transform the bonus culture and end incentives for excessive risk-taking. They also cover areas such as stricter capital rules on bank trading activities and higher standards for re-securitisations.  View Article
MEPs call for tighter coordination and planning to avoid future banking crises
In the ECON committee resolution adopted in Plenary in Strasbourg, MEPs urge the European Commission to submit draft laws relating to the management of cross-border crises in the banking sector. They also call for an EU crisis-management framework, EU financial stability fund and a resolution unit.  View Article
SWIFT II: EP Civil Liberties Committee approves draft agreement
The key to the deal for the EP is the eventual elimination of SWIFT "bulk" data transfers. Once Europe has a system enabling it to analyse bank data on its own territory, it need only transfer data relating to a specific terrorist track.  View Article
CEBS published two follow-up reports presenting the findings of its assessment of banks’ disclosures
In the first report, CEBS discusses the findings of its renewed analysis of banks’ transparency in their 2009 annual reports, based on a sample of 24 mainly European banks, and reveals, overall, that the CEBS June 2008 good practices have been taken into account quite satisfactorily.  View Article
CEBS consults on guidelines on Article 122a of the Capital Requirements Directive
Article 122a of the CRD provides new requirements to be fulfilled by credit institutions when acting in a particular capacity, such as originator, sponsor, or original lender and also when investing in securitisations.   View Article
EMF: The scenario for mortgage and housing markets reveals a mixed picture
The whole EU-27 mortgage market experienced a slight recovery as growth in values of outstanding mortgage lending over the previous year returned to positive figures. However, the crisis is still present and has a serious impact on EU mortgage and housing markets.  View Article

Securities

EC public hearing on MAD review: highly interlinked with MiFID and EMiR.
DG MARKT director highlighted that the scope of the directive should be extended to OTC derivatives markets. The debate focused on ensuring comprehensive and appropriate coverage of derivatives markets in the MAD review.  View Article
ECON Chairwoman: Market Abuse Directive should be MAD, bad and dangerous to know
Speaking at a Commission hearing on MAD, Sharon Bowles supported the revision of the directive by the Commission. She warned that efforts should be aimed at traders´ intent to undermine markets rather than the financial instruments they abuse in the process.  View Article
AMF published the report of the working group on the MiFID review
The report addresses themes like improvement of transparency, ensuring fair competition among trading venues and identification of technological developments in markets.  View Article
FESE against a US style Mandatory Consolidated Tape
In FESE view, the Mandatory Consolidate Tape proposal will not serve the objectives of improving transparency or lowering costs, and by contrast pose serious threats to the competitive framework that MiFID has enabled.  View Article

Insurance

Occupational Pensions: CEIOPS published 2010 Market Developments Report
CEIOPS report provides a general overview of the developments in cross-border arrangements of Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision. The results of the 2010 survey show an increase in cross-border activity, compared to 2009.  View Article
Occupational Pensions: CEIOPS published Ring-fencing in Stress Situations Report
CEIOPS concluded that the levels of pension benefits protection vary, as they are the result of a combination between the legal forms of the IORP, the various stress situations directly or indirectly related to a pension scheme and the different levels of protection offered.  View Article
Solvency II: CEIOPS published findings on Preparedness of insurance supervisors to implement
The report concludes that supervisors’ transition to the new solvency framework is proceeding at an increasing pace involving changes in mentality and competences, covering all the different areas of the supervisory authorities, demanding increased resources and often implying reorganisation.   View Article
FT: Insurers still uneasy over Solvency II
The industry is not expecting the big rise in capital requirements feared under earlier versions of Solvency II. However, CEIOPS is concerned that the rules have been weakened too far, which could harm policyholders.   View Article

Asset Management

CESR advises the European Commission on Key Investor Information Document
The Commission has indicated that it sees the methodologies on the risk and reward indicator and the ongoing charges figure as being more appropriately adopted via binding technical standards by the new European Securities and Markets Authority rather than as level 2 implementing measures.   View Article
CESR’s guidelines on the methodology for the calculation of the synthetic risk and reward indicator
The methodology for the synthetic risk and reward indicator (SRRI) set out in these guidelines applies to all UCITS. It should be based on the volatility of the fund using weekly or monthly returns covering the previous five years.   View Article
OECD/IOPS consults on good practices for the regulation and supervision of pension funds’ risk management systems
The consultation covers the role of management in the risk management process, looks at investment risk, solvency risk and operational control, and the risk management mechanisms.   View Article
Public consultation on the revised IOPS principles of private pension supervision
The revised IOPS Principles of Private Pension Supervision cover the main aspects of supervisory regime, including: resources, risk-based supervision, proportionality and consistency, confidentiality transparency and governance.   View Article

Financial Services Month in Brussels - Report

June 2010
The build-up to the G20 meeting in Toronto was dominated by warnings about the dire economic impact of simultaneously raising capital and liquidity requirements for banks. But the BIS gave a pre-emptive counter blast to bankers' 'doomsday scenarios' and their own impact assessment is now imminent.  View Article

Brief Opinions/Commentaries

Con Keating & Barry Marshall: Macro-Prudential Liquidity-Based Regulation
In this paper, the authors argued that criticisms of bank regulation are manifold. Moreover, a wide range of possible further regulation is now being promoted and debated, but agreement has emerged that macro-prudential regulation is required to complement the existing micro-prudential regime.   View Article
Wolfgang Münchau: Stress-testing the stress tests
Wolfgang Münchau writes in the FT that the stress tests themselves will need to pass a stress test. They must include realistic scenarios; they must be credible; and they must be backed up by a plausible re-capitalisation strategy.  View Article
EDHEC Risk: Banking on Liquidity
EDHEC Risk report explores the changes in the nature of banking activities over the past few decades which are fundamental to understand the failings that resulted in the financial crisis. The role and extent of liquidity and collateral security is fully analyzed and policy recommendations are made.  View Article




© Graham Bishop

< Next Previous >
Key
 Hover over the blue highlighted text to view the acronym meaning
Hover over these icons for more information


Add new comment





 


www.grahambishop.com
// Business Applications by Denaploy 		Web Master Information
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy