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09 September 2010

This week in "Brussels"
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Financial Services Policy Banking Securities
Insurance Corporate Governance/Accounting Edited Minutes of key legislative Bodies
Brief Opinions/Commentaries Graham Bishop’s Articles Financial stability - policy analysis
Best of Media About this email

Articles from 02 September 2010 - 09 September 2010

Financial Services Policy

Barroso defended taxes on financial activities and will come with proposals this autumn
Speaking in the Plenary session in Strasbourg on the State of the Union, Barroso stressed that the Commission is legislating to outlaw bonuses for quick-wins today, that become big losses tomorrow. As part of this approach, the EC also defends taxes on financial activities.  View Article
The Council approves a compromise with the Parliament on financial supervision
The Parliament is expected to approve the texts in the first reading during its plenary session starting on 20 September. The Council will formally approve them at the subsequent meeting without further discussion.  View Article
Rehn: The "European Semester" is a major improvement of Europe economic governance architecture
Welcoming the endorsement by the Council of the introduction of the "European Semester" as of January 2011, Commissioner Rehn highlighted that it will cover fiscal discipline, macroeconomic stability and policies to foster growth in line with the Europe 2020 Strategy.  View Article
ECOFIN conclusions - agreement reached on the financial supervisory package
The Council held an exchange of views on the options regarding financial industry contributions in the wake of the financial crisis. The coordination of levies on banks and the possible introduction of a financial transaction tax were discussed.  View Article
Barroso letter to the MEPs on the State of the Union
Barroso presented the Commission 2011 working programme on financial services which includes MIFID review, UCITS rules on depositories and remuneration, legislation on packaged retail investment products and legislation on corporate governance.   View Article
State of the (European) Union: Europe of today and tomorrow debated in the EP
Mr. Barroso promised better economic governance to deal with this crisis and avert future ones. He said the Commission would unveil proposals on 29 September for stronger national budget monitoring, promising that "we will match monetary union with true economic union".  View Article
MEPs: financial regulation on track but this is only the beginning
MEPs broadly agreed on the need for further economic and budgetary co-ordination and applauded the introduction of a "European Semester", which would allow the EC and Council to monitor national budgets and economic policies.  View Article
ECB publishes a book on the payment system and the role of the Eurosystem in this field
It provides a comprehensive insight into the handling of financial transactions and the functioning of the related financial market infrastructure. It also explains the role and policies of the Eurosystem in this field.   View Article
EP adds bite to EU financial watchdog rules
ESAs will have the power to investigate specific types of financial institution, financial product, such as a "toxic" product, or financial activity such as naked short selling, to assess what risks they pose to a financial market.  View Article
Barnier welcomes the outcome of the trialogue to beef up oversight on financial institutions in Europe
The final agreement has not yet been reached as the Member States and the European Parliament must confirm this consensus. MEPs are expected to vote on the final text during the plenary session in September.   View Article
Graham Bishop: EU waves flag for consumers
Graham Bishop writes that Brussels proposals on financial services protection inevitably highlight the perennial problem of ‘more or less Europe’.  View Article
European Liberal group: deal establishing European financial supervision is a big step forward
Council agreed with ALDE's key demand that the President of the European Central Bank be also the President of the new European Systemic Risk Board.  View Article
Almunia on the Irish financial sector: a number of important aspects still need to be clarified
Ireland gave a sharp turn to the restructuring plan of nationalized Anglo Irish Bank to satisfy Brussels and opted for its division into two entities, one of which will be liquidated or sold gradually.  View Article
Commission authorises recapitalisation scheme implementing the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund for credit institutions
The Fund's capital is €10 billion and is part of the Euro Area/IMF financial assistance to the country. The EC found the recapitalisation scheme to be compatible with EU rules.   View Article

Banking

CEBS defends consistent EU stress test
CEBS stressed that individual disclosures of sovereign exposures were an essential component of the exercise and a great enhancement in terms of transparency.  View Article
Basel Paper on effective supervision of microfinance activities
The BCBS issues a paper containing guidance on the application of the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision to Microfinance Activities.  View Article
EU to get new tough powers to deal with national financial supervisors
EU authorities are to get new tough powers to settle disputes among national financial supervisors and to ban risky financial products and activities.   View Article
BBA acts to get lending moving in the UK
The British Banking Association makes proposals to stimulate lending and Private Sector recovery in the economy in a letter to the Chancellor .  View Article
FT: German banks try to fend off Basel III
The Bundesverband deutscher Banken, which represents Germany’s private-sector banks, said on Monday that if implemented along the lines it expected, the so-called Basel III rules could require Germany’s top 10 banks to raise €105bn ($135.2bn) of fresh capital.  View Article

Securities

BIS, ECB and IMF publish second part of the “Handbook on Securities Statistics”
The Handbook directly addresses one of the recommendations endorsed by the G20 concerning the need to fill data gaps and to strengthen data collection.  View Article
ECB report shows high standards for business continuity arrangements of payment systems
Six payment systems operating in the Euro Area and classified as “systemically important” were assessed for compliance with the business continuity oversight expectations: TARGET2, EURO1, CORE, POPS, PMJ and CSS.  View Article
EDHEC Risk Institute supports the objective of better regulation of the derivatives markets for commodities
In an open letter to Commissioner Barnier, EDHEC criticises the assumption that underlies the French initiative, namely that derivative instruments are currently one of the causes of the high level of volatility in commodity prices.  View Article
CESR publishes the feedback statement on the Investor Protection and Intermediaries part of the MiFID review
CESR advises to clarify and to deliver a more graduated risk-based approach to the distinction between complex and non-complex financial instruments for the purposes of the Directive’s appropriateness requirements.  View Article
Save Bulgaria's Stock Exchange
The government in Sofia risks being seen as a new model of sovereign-wealth robber baron. This can only hurt the country and its economy.  View Article

Insurance

ABI newsletter on the latest developments on Solvency II
ABI argues that it is important that retail consumers can, with safety, continue to purchase insurance products and are not priced out of the market. But these changes should not threaten financial stability by, for example, making insurers forced sellers of high quality bonds.   View Article

Corporate Governance/Accounting

ISDA comments on Exposure Draft of Measurement of Uncertainty Analysis Disclosure for Fair Value Measurement
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association’s (ISDA) Accounting Policy Committee provides comments and observations with respect to the Exposure Draft (“ED”) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (“IASB”).  View Article
EFRP comments on IASB defined benefit plans - proposed amendments to IAS 19
EFRP is concerned that the withdrawal of the corridor option may contribute to the ever growing pressure on DB plans to close. This could lead to social consequences in many European countries.  View Article
EBF response to the FASB ED Accounting for Financial Instruments and Revision to the Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging
The EBF has concerns about the approach adopted by the FASB. There is no reflection of business practices and the proposed requirement will not reduce complexity, improve transparency or be acceptable to most users of financial statements.  View Article

Brief Opinions/Commentaries

Wolfgang Münchau: Do not fall for talk of European solvency
Münchau takes a look at the eurozone bonds spreads, and finds that they have more or less risen to pre-May 9 levels, which shows that the financial markets have essentially concluded that peripheral Europe is insolvent.   View Article
Bruegel: How to insure against a crisis
Two years since the financial crisis, Bruegel Director Jean Pisani-Ferry analyses the cost of the crisis and looks at how economic reform will come at a cost and how best to prepare for this.  View Article

Financial stability - policy analysis

ECB Bini Smaghi: What has the financial crisis taught us? The global dimension and international policy cooperation
Bini Smaghi highlighted that the key lesson from the crisis is that keeping an economy in order does not necessarily insulate it from external shocks.   View Article

Best of Media

Il Sole: CEBS replies to the Wall Street Journal criticism – stress tests transparent
CEBS highlights that individual results of the sovereign exposure were an essential component of the exercise and a big improvement in terms of transparency.  View Article
WSJ: Europe's bank stress tests minimized debt risk
An examination of the banks' disclosures indicates that some banks didn't provide as comprehensive a picture of their government-debt holdings as regulators claimed. Some banks excluded certain bonds, a Wall Street Journal analysis shows.  View Article




© Graham Bishop

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