This week in "Brussels"
17 May 2018
European banking union, bank capital requirements, virtual currencies, STS short-term securitisations, IFRS 17, Commission’s collective redress proposals, UK fund management and more.
|
|
Jump directly to |
 |
 |
|
|
Articles from 10 May 2018 - 17 May 2018 |
|
|
Banking Union |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial Times: ECB head Draghi backs France’s call to complete banking union
Mario Draghi has thrown his weight behind French demands to complete the eurozone’s banking union and create a rainy-day fund for member states, as he sought to boost momentum for reform ahead of a leaders’ summit next month. View Article |
Financial Times: Top ECB official calls for accelerated banking union drive
The eurozone’s southern members have done enough to reform their economies and reduce risk in their financial systems for the bloc to speed up banking union, the vice-president of the European Central Bank has said, in an implicit criticism of German foot-dragging. View Article |
ECB's Lautenschläger: European banking union - the place to be?
Sabine Lautenschläger, Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, made the case for an agreement on the banking union, urging national regulators to allow pooling control over banking supervision and resolution. She tried to appease mounting concerns about "power centralisation" by the ECB. View Article |
PIIE: Completing Europe’s Banking Union means breaking the bank-sovereign vicious circle
Several euro area leaders, including the German chancellor, her finance minister, and the French president, have recently referred to the need to “complete the banking union.” They inevitably raise the question of what criteria should be used to assess the banking union’s completeness. View Article |
VoxEU: On the risk sensitivity of bank capital requirements
The Basel III reform raised banks’ capital requirement per risk-weighted assets considerably, while risk weights were largely unchanged. This column uses a simple model to explore whether these risk weights discourage productive business investments. View Article |
Bloomberg: Volcker rule rewrite to drop trading burden on banks, sources say
Wall Street is poised to get a big reprieve from the Volcker Rule, as US agencies prepare to scrap a restrictive presumption that most short-term trades violate the post-crisis regulation, three people with knowledge of the matter said. View Article |
ECB's Mersch: Virtual currencies ante portas
Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, shares his views on virtual currencies and new innovations and technologies such as distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Capital Markets Union |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BCBS and IOSCO issue criteria for identifying simple, transparent and comparable short-term securitisations
The short-term STC criteria aim to assist the financial industry in its development of simple, transparent and comparable short-term securitisations. View Article |
IOSCO Annual Conference focuses on key challenges facing securities regulators
IOSCO Board, IOSCO´s Growth and Emerging Markets Committee, the four Regional Committees and the Affiliate Members Consultative Committee advanced their initiatives aimed at protecting investors, ensuring fair, efficient and transparent markets, and mitigating systemic risk. View Article |
ICMA AMIC publishes position on ESRB review
AMIC has issued a position paper on the on-going review of the European Systemic Risk Board. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Clients Union |
|
|
|
|
|
|
IFAC: Global Ethics Board consults on professional scepticism
The IESBA seeks public comment on its consultation paper, Professional Scepticism – Meeting Public Expectations. View Article |
Hedgeweek: More than half of institutional investors plan to outsource data management by 2021
New research by State Street Corporation reveals that more than half (60 per cent) of institutional investors surveyed plan to partly or fully outsource their data management over the next three years. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Insurance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
EIOPA launches the fourth EU-wide insurance stress test
The EIOPA launched its fourth stress test for the European insurance sector, a regular exercise that aims to assess insurers’ vulnerabilities. View Article |
Commercial Risk Europe: IFRS 17 will increase costs for insurers but improve financial transparency, survey finds
The new International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS 17) will increase the complexity and cost of operating in the insurance industry, but also improve financial transparency, according to a survey of senior UK insurance professionals by analytics firm SAS. View Article |
Commercial Risk Europe: European Commission’s collective redress proposals open door for US-style litigation, warns source
An insurance industry insider has added to the list of those concerned about the Commission’s proposed collective redress system, claiming it fails to protect against third-party litigation funders bringing US-style class actions to this side of the Atlantic and lacks other key safeguards. View Article |
Insurance Europe: Response to EIOPA consultation on corrections and amendments to ITS on reporting and disclosure
Insurance Europe said it would be difficult to implement these new validations in time for Q4 reporting, particularly for complex groups. Therefore, Insurance Europe proposes that the new validations should not be obligatory for the first year of application, and only become obligatory in the second year. View Article |
Commercial Risk Europe: Cyber insurance represents significant growth opportunity for US insurers, says Fitch
Cyber insurance coverage continues to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the US, according to Fitch Ratings, fuelled by increasing cyberattacks and regulatory requirements. The ratings agency said cyber insurance represents a significant growth opportunity for US property/casualty insurers. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Asset Management |
|
|
|
|
|
|
AIMA publishes paper on omnibus cross-border distribution proposals
AIMA, together with the Managed Funds Association (MFA), published a position paper where it welcomes the European Commission’s omnibus regulation and omnibus directive proposals aiming at facilitating investment funds cross-border distribution. View Article |
The CityUK's report on UK fund management
UK fund managers’ assets under management grew to a record £8.1trn in 2016, up 17.4% year on year. This growth was, in part, driven by an increase in the value of overseas assets, which benefited from the weakening of sterling versus other major currencies following the Brexit referendum. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Corporate Governance/Accounting |
|
|
|
|
|
|
IASB: An overview of ED accounting policy changes
The IFRS Foundation has published a document to accompany ED Accounting Policy Changes (Proposed amendments to IAS 8). It provides an overview of the proposed amendments to IAS 8 and its intended application in practice. View Article |
Accountancy Europe: Responding to assurance needs on non-financial information
Due to different levels of maturity in non-financial information reporting, professional accountants approach non-financial information assurance engagements in different ways. Therefore, Accountancy Europe examines six key steps for non-financial information assurance. View Article |
ACCA and CFA Institute: New Memorandum of Understanding
ACCA and CFA Institute agreed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), establishing a programme of focused activity that will see both bodies collaborating on a number of key developments. View Article |
FRC: High quality audit enhanced by stronger culture
It is important that firms create a culture where achieving high quality audit is valued and rewarded, and which emphasises the importance of ‘doing the right thing’ in the public interest according to a new report by the FRC, ‘Audit Culture Thematic Review’. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Grahams Articles, Comments & Speeches |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The battle over customs union: the tipping point that may decide the fate of the Brexit war - 141st Brussels for Breakfast – CPD Notes
The row over Britain’s option for a future trade relationship with the EU risks ultimately tearing Prime Minister May’s Government apart, even before the chosen model collides with Brussels’ own red lines. A new customs union with the EU or not, that is the question. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Friends Services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The battle over customs union: the tipping point that may decide the fate of the Brexit war - 141st Brussels for Breakfast – CPD Notes
The row over Britain’s option for a future trade relationship with the EU risks ultimately tearing Prime Minister May’s Government apart, even before the chosen model collides with Brussels’ own red lines. A new customs union with the EU or not, that is the question. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Political |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Main results - General Affairs Council
The Council discussed the EU's long-term budget for the 2021-2027 period. It also began preparations for the June European Council and exchanged views on the rule of law in Poland. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Economic |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bloomberg: Merkel pushes Euro reform, saying ECB policy won't be forever
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said governments must step up efforts to integrate the euro area because the European Central Bank’s expansive monetary policy won’t last forever. View Article |
Financial Times: The euro needs a unifying politics above all
Martin Sandbu argues that the political effect of euro-area reforms is far more important than their technical efficiency, and the solutions agreed "should contribute to the political goal of removing the debtor-creditor relationship as a salient division between member states." View Article |
VoxEU: Euro area reform: No deal is better than a bad deal
This column, part of VoxEU's Euro Area Reform debate, argues that the specific insolvency risk of euro area membership is the main risk that should be covered by joint risk sharing, and that the modest proposals for public and private risk sharing are insufficient in this regard. View Article |
OMFIF: Germany's important Target-2 debate
The author argues that Europe and the rest of the world should be examining the debate among German economists about what would happen to the Target-2 intra-euro area imbalances if a member country left Europe's economic and monetary union. View Article |
Financial Times: IMF warns Brexit and Italian politics put European growth at risk
Europe’s economy is facing a string a threats to growth, the International Monetary Fund has warned — including from the new populist coalition government in Italy and Brexit. View Article |
Bloomberg: EU sees $23.5 billion in revenue from Financial-Transaction Tax
A proposed tax on financial transactions in 10 European Union countries could generate about 19.6 billion euros ($23.5 billion) of annual revenue, though Brexit could make collection more difficult, according to a new estimate. View Article |
Annual inflation down to 1.2% in the euro area
Euro area annual inflation rate was 1.2% in April 2018, down from 1.3% in March. A year earlier, the rate was 1.9%. European Union annual inflation was 1.4% in April 2018, down from 1.5% in March. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0%. View Article |
|
|
|
|
|
Graham's tweets |
|
|
© Graham Bishop
Banking Union