Articles from 15-21 October
General Financial Policy
Commission relaunches the review of EU economic governance : The relaunched debate will draw on both the Commission's view of the effectiveness of the economic surveillance framework presented in February 2020 and the lessons learnt from the COVID-19 crisis described in today's Communication.
EURACTIV: Architect of EU fiscal rules calls for reform : Ahead of a new push by the European Commission to reform the EU’s fiscal rules, the chief of the bloc’s bailout fund, Klaus Regling pointed out the danger of sticking to rules that have become “economically nonsensical”.
Project Syndicate Hedegaard: The EU Must Step Up in Glasgow : As world leaders prepare to gather for COP26 next month, expectations for progress are low, even as the need to address climate change becomes more urgent. The European Union was critical in building the coalition needed to conclude the Paris climate agreement in 2015, and success in Glasgow may again depend on EU leadership
EIOPA at ECON: Introductory statement by Petra Hielkema, Chairperson of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority : Topics: consumer protection; clear communication as key for consumer confidence; Solvency II - the European Commission largely shares our approach and our objectives, including to a large extent those related to proportionality.
Banking Union
CEPS: Impediments to resolvability – what is the status quo? : To efficiently resolve a bank that is failing or likely to fail, and for which resolution is deemed in the public interest, it is important that impediments that hamper its resolvability are removed.
Capital Markets Union
FT: Brussels vows ‘no cliff edge’ over EU banks’ access to UK clearing : Financial services commissioner says there will be no ‘sudden twists and turns’ over licence
AFME report tracks European capital markets performance in 2021 : Record levels of capital markets funding supported EU businesses in the first half of 2021, reflecting significant recapitalisation needs in response to the pandemic and favourable conditions for raising capital;
EBA publishes final draft regulatory technical standards on disclosure of investment policy by investment firms : The draft technical standards specify the information that investment firms will have to disclose to show their influence over the companies in which they hold voting rights.
EIOPA welcomes Solvency II proposals from the European Commission on sustainability : EIOPA is convinced that these proposals would contribute positively to a transition into a more sustainable economy and that insurers, in their role as investors and risk managers, can facilitate it.
Invest Europe considers implications for the EU financing ecosystem of changes to EU State Aid rules : It is especially relevant from a private equity perspective as it specifies when risk finance aid can be granted to national venture and growth funds or the companies they support.
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)
FSB welcomes TCFD status report : It finds that over 50% of firms disclosed their climate-related risks and opportunities.
European Banking Federation announces support for Net-Zero Banking Alliance : With this move, the EBF commits to further step up its efforts to accelerate the banking sector transition to net zero and facilitate its member banks’ ambitions to achieve this goal.
SSM: Information on participation in the 2022 ECB Climate Risk Stress Test : It aims to identify vulnerabilities, industry best practices and the challenges faced by banks. The exercise will also help enhance data availability and quality, and allow supervisors to better understand the stress-testing frameworks banks use to gauge climate risk.
Bruegel: Better sustainability data is still needed to accelerate the low-carbon transition in capital markets : Investors need more trustworthy sustainability data. Regulators should leave space for better products to emerge, while remaining alert to well-known patterns of misconduct in capital markets.
ACCA: Narrowing the audit expectation gap is essential for a resilient global financial reporting ecosystem : New report provides recommendations for regulators, standard setters and auditors in tackling fraud and addressing going concern issues.
Fin Tech Regulation
Vox: The international dimension of central bank digital currencies: Open research questions : Central banks around the world are weighing the pros and cons of issuing their own digital currency. This column identifies open research questions around the international macro-financial dimension of central bank digital currencies,...
Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the ECB-CEBRA conference on international aspects of digital currencies and fint : “Hic sunt leones” – open research questions on the international dimension of central bank digital currencies
Friends' Standard Services
CSFI: 176th Brussels 4 Breakfast : The current row over the NI Protocol threatens to undermine fragile trust between London and Brussels - and that could have ramifications for the EU's attitude to bank branches from third country institutions and to CCP
Brexit and the City
FT: ECB pushes banks to boost their post-Brexit operations : Central bank increasingly forceful in demanding lenders move more resources to continent
Brexit
City AM: Temporary Brexit? Half of young British business owners expect UK will apply to rejoin EU : Younger business owners are significantly more likely to believe that the UK will re-apply in the future.
The UK in a Changing Europe: UK-EU regulatory divergence tracker : It identifies and analyses the most significant cases of divergence in regulatory standards between the UK and EU which have taken place since Brexit.