Articles from 5 - 11 February 2021
General Financial Policy
European Parlaiment: Parliament gives go-ahead to €672.5 billion Recovery and Resilience Facility : Biggest building block of the Next Generation EU stimulus package; €672.5 billion in grants and loans;Funds will support green transition, digital transformation, crisis preparedness as well as children and youth; Respect for rule of law/EU fundamental values to receive funding
Commission welcomes European Parliament's approval of Recovery and Resilience Facility : The European Commission welcomes the European Parliament's vote today, confirming the political agreement reached on the RRF Regulation in December 2020. This marks an important step towards making €672.5 billion in loans and grants available to Member States to support reforms and investments.
Capital Markets Union
Insurance Europe: EIOPA's approval of flawed PRIIPs changes seriously bad news for consumers buying insurance-based products : It is deeply regretful that the EIOPA BoS has chosen to push forward with these flawed changes.
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)
The three European Supervisory Authorities publish Final Report and draft RTS on disclosures under SFDR : The proposed RTS aim to strengthen protection for end-investors by improving Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) disclosures to end-investors on the principal adverse impacts of investment decisions and on the sustainability features of a wide range of financial products.
Insurance Europe: EC corporate governance proposals must account for existing EU sustainability rules : Insurance Europe has today published its response to a consultation by the European Commission on sustainable corporate governance, including matters regarding social and human rights, climate change and the environment.
Accountancy Europe: EC’s Consultation document proposal for an initiative on sustainable corporate governance : We have responded to the European Commission’s Consultation document proposal for an initiative on sustainable corporate governance.
EFAMA responds to Consultation for an initiative on Sustainable Corporate Governance : EFAMA supports the European Commission’s initiative to ensure environmental and social interests are fully embedded into business strategies.
Management and supervision of ESG risks for credit institutions and investment firms: EBF response to EBA consultation : The European Banking Federation has responded to the European Banking Authority’s consultation on incorporating ESG risks into the governance, risk management and supervision of credit institutions and investment firms.
Vox: The dangers of sustainability metrics : Policymakers, investors, and stakeholders are demanding that companies report sustainability metrics so that they can be held accountable .. real decisions depend on not the total amount of information, but the balance between ‘hard’ (quantitative) and ‘soft’ (qualitative) information.
Accountancy Europe: Fraud: recommendations to strengthen the financial reporting ecosystem : Corporate fraud is a serious issue that affects us all. Its consequences can weaken the public’s confidence in markets and have long lasting damaging effects on society. View Article
Accountancy Europe: Going concern: recommendations to strengthen the financial reporting ecosystem : When a company collapses, all stakeholders are affected, from employees to investors, and it eventually erodes the public’s trust in financial markets View Article
Protecting Customers
Insurance Europe: Insurers welcome overall EC objective of developing EU single market for data; call for clarifications on scope : Insurance Europe response to a consultation by the European Commission on Data Governance Act. Insurance Europe welcomed the overall objective of creating a single market for data, where data from public bodies, business and citizens can be used safely and fairly for the common good.
Fin Tech Regulation
Bloomberg: ECB’s Panetta Says Digital Euro May Come With a Penalty Clause : Negative rates could discourage CBDC hoarding, official says; Central bank money for public may undermine banks’ stability
Brexit
City AM: Brexit crowns Amsterdam Europe's top trading hub, ousting The City : Some €9.2bn shares a day were traded on Euronext Amsterdam and the Dutch arms of CBOE and Turquoise, the London Stock Exchange’s platform, last month – a more than fourfold increase from December, the Financial Times reported.
IHS Markit: 2021: Brexit, no equivalence and the day of the SEF : In the absence of such an equivalence agreement, it was inevitable that some activity would move from MTFs / OTFs to SEFs and EU and UK firms would have less access to global liquidity - due to STO and DTO requirements
Bloomberg: London Finance Takes Another Hit as Carbon Market Goes to EU : ICE says EU contracts will shift from U.K. to Netherlands; Traders had warned of cost and risk in post-Brexit London
EURACTIV: Don’t wage battle against the City, UK bank governor urges EU : The Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey urged the EU not to wage a regulatory battle against the UK on financial services, warning that “a world in which the EU dictates and determines what rules and standards we have in the UK is not going to work.”
City of London: Total tax contribution of UK financial services. : The thirteenth edition of our annual survey of the total tax contribution made by UK financial services finds that the finance sector’s firms, employees and customers contributed £75.6bn to public finances in tax, in the year to March 2020.
Fondation Robert Schuman: Brexit and the Irish Question : When thinking of the Irish question, it calls to mind the partition of the island of Ireland, ratified by the Government of Ireland Act of 23 December 1920, which was intended to satisfy the aspirations of the Protestant majority in Ulster, who were in favour of keeping the province under the authority of the Crown.
Bloomberg: U.K. Won’t Publish Assessment of EU Trade Deal as Red Tape Hits : The U.K. government won’t publish an impact assessment of its trade accord with the European Union despite producing similar reviews of other major trade deals it has signed.