General Financial Policy
BBC Brexit: Trade deal now looking remote : That now seems the likely outcome of months of talks designed to create a smooth path for the country towards a different future - a deal that, in theory, would ease the junction from membership of a huge trading bloc to a world outside.
Fondation Robert Schuman : Tribute to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing - a great European : Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was a great president and a great European, to whom the Robert Schuman Foundation was close, and with whom it often had the privilege to work. He honoured us with shared convictions. Europe owes him a lot.
Bloomberg: Poland, Hungary Say Deal Struck on $2.2 Trillion EU Stimulus : Deputy premier in Warsaw says deal reached on spending plan; Germany says a deal still needs buy-in from all member states
Federal Trust: Reflections on the future of Europe - Can the EU function as a democracy without forming a state? Jaap Hoeksma : Since its foundation in the middle of the previous century, the EU and its predecessors have been preoccupied with the question whether they should become a federal state or a confederal union of states.
Bruegel: Thinking big: debt management considerations for the EU’s pandemic borrowing plan : If not handled correctly, the European Union’s transition to take on a new role as an issuer of public debt risks crowding out existing markets. Managing that transition correctly is almost as big a challenge as spending the money itself.
Banking Union
ECB warns banks are ‘all over the place’ on bad loan preparations : Europe’s top banking supervisor worried region’s biggest lenders ill-prepared for pandemic fallout
FT: Bank capital buffers aren’t working : Danmarks Nationalbank Governor: Regulators must rethink overlapping Basel III requirements before the next crisis. We must all review our regulations to make sure that the capital buffers can serve their purpose and genuinely allow banks to absorb losses when the next crisis hits.
SSM: Bank boards and supervisory expectations : I welcome the FBF’s initiative to bring together professionals from the financial industry to exchange views on the challenges faced by bank boards and discuss how they can most effectively oversee the management of banks.
Single Resolution Board publishes MREL dashboard : The Single Resolution Board (SRB) has today published an MREL dashboard which will be followed by regular quarterly reports. The dashboard is designed to give a comprehensive overview of the Minimum Requirement for Own Funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL) across the banks under the SRB’s remit.
EURACTIV: Commission eyes new proposal to unblock deposit insurance scheme : The European Commission is considering tabling a new proposal on the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) in a bid to break the long-running deadlock and complete the banking union, a Commission official has said.
BIS: Tools for managing banking distress: historical experience and lessons for today : We analyse the effectiveness of policy tools for large-scale banking distress and draw lessons for today. The depth of recessions following banking distress depends both on the speed with which tools were deployed and their type and on the macro-financial vulnerabilities.
Capital Markets Union
AFME's Farkas: How Have Europe’s Capital Markets Evolved Since the Launch of the CMU Project? In October, AFME, in partnership with 10 other organisations, published a report that provides context and evidence on how Europe’s capital markets performed in the first half of 2020. Statistics used in this piece regularly reference this document.
ECON: COVID-19 recovery deal: balance investor protection and firms’ compliance costs : Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee negotiators struck a deal so that EU companies can access a diverse range of funding and support the post-COVID-19 recovery.
EIOPA’s pilot dashboard addresses the natural catastrophe protection gap - consultation : Today, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) launched its first pilot dashboard, which depicts the insurance protection gap for natural catastrophes.
OECD: COVID-19 crisis adds pressure to private and public pensions systems : The COVID-19 crisis has compounded the challenges facing retirement savings and old-age pension arrangements and added new ones, according to a new OECD report
Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)
ESMA: The three (apparent) paradoxes of sustainability reporting and how to address them : Steve Maijoor: A new standard for a new capitalism: accelerating corporate responsibility through non-financial information
ICMA: Green & Social Bond Principles launch new guidelines on climate transition finance : Major economies are now striving to meet the objectives enshrined in the Paris Agreement, limiting the global temperature increase this century to lower than 2°C above pre-industrial levels by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Capital markets play a critical role in this climate transition process..
ICMA AMIC responds to ESMA's public consultation on Article 8 of the Taxonomy regulation : ICMA AMIC submitted its response to ESMA's public consultation on Article 8 of the Taxonomy regulation which requires companies in the scope of NFRD (i.e. large listed companies ) to disclose their level of taxonomy alignment (turnover, capex, opex) in their non-financial statement.
EFAMA reply to ESMA's CP on the draft advice to EU Commission under Article 8 of the Taxonomy Regulation : EFAMA strongly supports the development and implementation of the Taxonomy Regulation. We believe that reporting on the level of alignment with the Taxonomy by non-financial and financial undertakings is essential to strengthening market integrity around sustainability issues.
Protecting Customers
CRE: Transferring personal data between the EEA and the UK post-Brexit : The continued flow of customers’ and employees’ personal data is vital to many businesses, supply chains and public authorities to ensure effective functioning.
Fin Tech Regulation
Data governance act: Video conference of telecommunications ministers : At their informal video conference, telecommunications ministers held a policy debate on the proposal for a data governance act, presented by the Commission on 25 November as the first legislative initiative under the 2020 European data strategy.
IMF: Cyber Risk is the New Threat to Financial Stability : Taking for granted the ability to withdraw money from our bank account, wire it to family in another country, and pay bills online.... But what if a cyberattack takes the bank down and a remittance doesn’t go through?
Brexit
ESAs HIGHLIGHT THE CHANGE IN THE STATUS OF SIMPLE, TRANSPARENT AND STANDARDISED (STS) SECURITISATION TRANSACTIONS AT THE END OF THE UK TRANS : The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) – ESMA, EBA and EIOPA – wish to highlight the impact in the change of status of ‘Simple, Transparent and Standardised’ (STS) securitisation transactions after the end of the Transition Period on 31 December 2020.
EBA informs customers of UK financial institutions about the end of the Brexit transition period : EU law will stop to apply in the UK as of 1 January 2021, and from that date onwards, UK financial institutions not holding a valid authorisation from the supervisory authorities in the EU will lose the right to provide financial services in the EU. View