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Articles 18 September 2019 - 26 September 2019 

General Policy

BIS Quarterly Review: Markets swing on trade and monetary policy : Trade and monetary policy dominated market developments during the last quarter, with the prices of risky assets falling on escalating trade tensions and rebounding on monetary easing. View Article

Banking Union

EBA launches its 2019 EU-wide transparency exercise : The EBA launched its regular EU-wide transparency exercise. In November 2019, together with the Risk Assessment Report (RAR), the EBA will release up to 2,2 mln data points on about 130 EU banks. The data will cover capital positions, financial assets, risk exposure amounts, sovereign exposures and asset quality.  View Article

EBF hails UN signing of Principles for Responsible Banking : The European Banking Federation hails the signing at the United Nations headquarters in New York of the Principles for Responsible Banking developed by leading banks in close cooperation with UNEPFI, the Finance Initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme. View Article

ECB: The taxonomy of ECB instruments available for banking supervision : This article describes the instruments the ECB has adopted in its role as banking supervisor in recent years. View Article

ECB: Luis de Guindos: Measures to support monetary policy transmission through banks : Welcome address by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, to the Money Market Contact Group, in which he discusses the changes to some of the parameters of the third series of targeted longer-term refinancing operations – TLTRO III – and the implementation of a two-tier system for the remuneration of excess reserves. View Article

Financial Times: Europe’s private banks hit by worst year since crisis : Profits for European private banks dropped by the most since the global financial crisis last year as muted investor inflows, weakness in financial markets and rising costs combined to reduce earnings. View Article

Bruegel: Challenges ahead for the European Central Bank: Navigating in the dark? : The ECB will face major challenges in this potentially difficult period: its main tools are nearly exhausted, the monetary union in which it operates is still incomplete, and it lacks the understanding of what the ‘new normal’ looks like. The authors, therefore, urge the ECB to review its strategy and framework to be able to face these challenges. View Article

Financial Times: Eurozone banks need to be part of the solution : Mario Draghi’s swansong decision last week to revive the European Central Bank’s quantitative easing programme and cut the interest paid to negative 0.5 per cent had been widely feared by the eurozone’s beleaguered banks. View Article

ECA publishes Opinion on the proposed financial regulation of the Single Resolution Board : The ECA published an Opinion on the proposed financial regulation of the Single Resolution Board, which lays down the financial provisions for the EU body responsible for ensuring the orderly resolution of failing banks. View Article

EBF: Card payments ecosystem requires 18 extra months for SCA : The EBF now reiterated its call on the EBA to grant an 18-month extension that applies to the entire EU system for remote card payments. View Article

Capital Markets Union

Steven Maijoor - introductory remarks to the 2nd Roundtable on Euro Risk Free Rate : Mr Maijoor highlighted ESMA's priorities in its work under the Benchmark Regulation (BMR) in particular the adoption by EU supervised entities of fallbacks in new and existing contracts to ensure that the relevant provision of the BMR are complied with. View Article

AFME Annual Review 2019 - Europe’s Capital Markets: The next phase and new challenges : AFME has engaged itself in the evolution of EU third country regimes, including for third country CCPs and investment firms. It is currently developing a paper on the EU’s equivalence framework and relationship with third countries in the context of Brexit.  View Article

EBA consults on its proposals to create an STS framework for synthetic securitisation : The EBA launched a 2-month public consultation on its proposals for a simple, transparent and standardised (STS) framework for synthetic securitisation. This ground-breaking work on synthetic securitisation unveils new data and insights into post-crisis market developments and trends, including data on historical default and loss performance.  View Article

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)

Council of the EU: Sustainable finance - Council agrees position on a unified EU classification system : The EU is taking steps to implement its strategy on financing sustainable growth and the transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient economy. At present, there is no common classification system at EU or global level which defines what is an environmentally sustainable economic activity.  View Article

Speech by President Donald Tusk at the UN Climate Action Summit : European Council President Donald Tusk said that Europe is determined to lead the fight against today's climate threat, and announced that the European Union will submit an ambitious long-term strategy early next year. View Article

Investment & Pensions Europe: UN Climate Summit: Asset owners commit to carbon neutral portfolios by 2050 : Nordic pension investors have committed to carbon neutral portfolios by 2050 as part of a new asset owner campaign. Members of the alliance will set and publicly report on intermediate targets, thereby holding themselves publicly accountable, according to a statement about the new initiative. View Article

Insurance Europe: Financial industry joins to warn EC about inappropriate timeframe to apply new EU sustainability disclosure rules : A large group of financial industry associations — including Insurance Europe — has raised serious concerns in a joint letter to the European Commission regarding the current application timeline for new EU disclosure rules for sustainable investments and sustainability risks. View Article

Project Syndicate: How to finance the green transition : World leaders gathered at the United Nations to take stock of the global fight against climate change, and to submit new emissions-reduction commitments.  View Article

The Corporate Reporting Dialogue shows high level of alignment between major global reporting frameworks on TCFD recommendations : The Corporate Reporting Dialogue – an initiative bringing together the major standard setters and framework providers globally – released a report showing high levels of alignment between the frameworks on the basis of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations. View Article

CDSB: Major standards setters release TCFD Good Practice Handbook : SASB and CDSB release handbook, highlighting real-world reporting on climate-related financial risks and opportunities. View Article

ACCA forges the path for social and environmental value creation and calls for collective action : In a new report Social and environmental value creation ACCA calls for more concerted action to deal with the challenges of social and environmental value creation. The report examines the role of business in environmental, social and governance issues which are under increasing focus from investors and society more widely.  View Article

Protecting Customers

ACCA explores the power of ethics, trust and sustainability in its latest global initiative : ACCA is highlighting the ‘power of ethics, trust and sustainability’ in its latest global project. This global theme will showcase how digital advances, tightening regulation and changing consumer behaviour have introduced new ethical complexities to the ever-changing business world.  View Article

Fin Tech Regulation

SUERF: Central bank digital currency - institutional issues : The introduction of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) represents a radical change to the financial system and its institutional setting, and especially to the position of the central bank.  View Article

VoxEU: Banking, FinTech, Big Tech - Emerging challenges for financial policymakers : FinTech and Big Tech firms are both increasingly stepping on banks’ traditional turf. This column introduces the 22nd Geneva Report on the World Economy, which looks at the challenges generated by new technology-enabled entrants to the global banking industry and the public authorities that oversee it. View Article

Friends' Basic Services

44th Brussels for Brunch Webinar September 2019 : This is the link to the recorded webinar at CISI. View Article

Economic Policies Impacting EU Finance

EurActiv: Draghi calls for euro budget in farewell to MEPs : ECB President Mario Draghi urged EU co-legislators to set up a fiscal capacity to counter the eurozone’s economic shocks, while he warned of the worsening economic outlook in his farewell debate with MEPs. View Article

Project Syndicate: Four collision courses for the global economy : Between US President Donald Trump's zero-sum disputes with China and Iran, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's brinkmanship with Parliament and the European Union, and Argentina's likely return to Peronist populism, the fate of the global economy is balancing on a knife edge. View Article

Bruegel: The European Union-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement: Prospects and risks : After nearly 20 years of on-off negotiations, the European Union and Mercosur – a customs union covering Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – in June 2019 reached a political agreement on a trade deal. But to derive the full benefits from the EU-Mercosur agreement, major reforms will be needed. View Article

François Villeroy de Galhau: What economic sovereignty for Europe? Facing the threats with lucidity, and boldly seizing an opportunity : The Governor of the Banque de France proposed that, in the current crisis of globalisation, Europe doesn’t need to keep its head down; it should assert and propose a model – its own social, environmental and multilateral model. View Article

Tweets

Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	BBC Breaking News @BBCBreaking
UK PM Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks was unlawful, Supreme Court rules bbc.in/2ljfDqV
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	OECD ?? Better policies for better lives @OECD
Replying to @OECD The OECD projects that the global #economy will grow by 2.9% in 2019 and 3% in 2020 - the weakest annual growth rates since the #FinancialCrisis. Read more in our latest Interim #EconomicOutlook ?? oe.cd/2HR pic.twitter.com/pUgp1Y0SUj
	Graham Bishop #FBPE @GrahamBishopcom
Just published my notes on the latest Brussels for Breakfast debate. We talked Brexit and the new equivalence regime, Green Finance, the new European Commission and crypto-currencies. Read it on the web!#brexit #equivalence #greenfinance #cryptocurrencies