This week in "Brussels"

07 October 2010



Jump directly to
Financial Services Policy Banking Securities
Asset Management Corporate Governance/Accounting Financial Services Month in Brussels - Report
Edited Minutes of Key Legislative Bodies Brief Opinions/Commentaries Financial Stability - Policy Analysis
Best of Media About this email

Articles from 30 September 2010 - 07 October 2010

Financial Services Policy

Commission outlines vision for taxing the financial sector
The Commission has worked on the basis that the financial sector needs to make a fair contribution to public finances, and that governments urgently need new sources of revenue in the current economic climate.  View Article
Informal ECOFIN Council: Bank levy and financial transactions tax on the agenda
Ministers highlighted that further efforts should be pursued at the global level to provide stability and predictability by integrating with other G20 jurisdictions even if their financial system might have been less impacted by the crisis.  View Article
Commission consults on access to a basic payment account
The measures outlined in the consultation could improve access to payment accounts and electronic means of payment, thus promoting the full participation of all consumers in the Internal Market, as well as financial and social inclusion.   View Article
ECON committee hearing on state aid and financial crisis
Banks and the aid they have been receiving ever since the demise of Lehman Brothers were the focus of the ECON hearing. MEPs quizzed Commissioners Almunia and Barnier as well as a number of banking industry market players.   View Article
ECON committee: MEPs take stance on economic governance
The committee broadly backs the Commission's legislative proposals, but goes further on permanent European monetary fund, European bonds, and the need to tackle budget surpluses as well as deficits.  View Article
IMF: The financial sector remains the Achilles’ heel of the economic recovery
The report presents an analysis of the challenges facing advanced countries as they deal with the juxtaposition of a slower recovery, higher debt levels and rollovers, and a still-impaired financial sector.  View Article
IMF urges more comprehensive reform of the global financial system
Before the IMF/World Bank and G20 meetings, the IMF has issued a staff position paper which notes that while much work has been done to improve the safety of the global financial system since the onset of this crisis, much still needs to be done.  View Article

Banking

Competition Commissioner Almunia defends the extension of temporary state aids to the banking sector
He highlighted that in 2011 the Commission will look very carefully at how far we can go with the phasing-out provisions in the temporary framework. It can’t continue to the same extent as before, but must nonetheless remain in place.  View Article
BIS Cecchetti: banks hold too little capital and too little liquidity
The short-term costs of the new Basel III capital standards are likely to be small and largely transient, while the benefits of a stronger and healthier financial system will be there for years to come.  View Article
Competition Commissioner Almunia: Anglo-Irish Bank’s restructuring will carefully be monitored
He highlighted that Allied Irish Bank will need to receive further capital in the form of state aid, which will have to be notified to the Commission for approval.   View Article
Swiss committee of experts urge higher capital requirements
The Commission of Experts appointed by the Federal Council in Switzerland has submitted a package of measures for the limitation of "too big to fail" risks posed by banks that are systemically important to the Swiss economy.  View Article

Securities

MiFID: Spirit and reality of the European Financial Markets Directive
The goal of this report is to describe the objectives of MiFID and compare it to the status quo and evolution of the European equity trading landscape with a specific focus on the role of the different categories of trading venues.   View Article
BME published a report on historical returns for equities and other investment alternatives
The study addresses three key topics: the positive returns provided by long-term investment in equities and bonds, the protection against inflation afforded by these returns, and the historical equity risk premium in Spain.  View Article
Spanish Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores publishes a report on securities markets
The report confirms that the European sovereign debt crisis has had a substantial impact on the international financial markets, and this crisis, not yet fully overcome, has also had adverse effects on the private debt emissions.  View Article
AFME publishes an OTC protocol for default trades
The protocol allows a signatory to strike cash balance for open trades with a signatory that defaults and follows the model already used in other OTC markets, such as stock lending and swaps and derivatives.  View Article

Asset Management

AIFMD: EP Rapporteur welcomes progress made in COREPER on third-country managers and funds
Apparently France is now supporting the EU passport for third country managers if it is subjected to stricter conditions. France also wants ESMA to be in charge of authorising the EU passports to third country managers.  View Article
Belgian Presidency published latest compromise text on AIFMD
The third country passport issue is still unresolved. MEP Gauzes stressed that the Belgian presidency is devoting this week to trying to find a compromise. He is optimistic and said that it is still possible to reach an agreement before mid-October.  View Article

Corporate Governance/Accounting

BCBS releases final document on principles for enhancing corporate governance
Given the great relevance of corporate governance to the stability of individual banks and the international financial system as a whole, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has issued principles based on certain key areas to help ensure sound corporate governance practices in banks .  View Article
EBF response to the FASB on the revision to the accounting for derivative instruments and hedging activities
The EBF has significant concerns with the approach adopted by the FASB because there is no reflection of business practices and the proposed requirement will not reduce complexity, improve transparency or be acceptable to most users of financial statements.  View Article

Financial Services Month in Brussels - Report

September 2010 Financial Services Month in Brussels
Finally, the “supervisory package” was agreed between Council and Parliament – after an epic struggle. But that battle obscures the fact that the EU responded to the crisis with far-reaching changes to its regulatory structure in less than a year from the appointment of the De Larosière Group (DLG) to consider the options.   View Article

Brief Opinions/Commentaries

Philippe Maystadt: The case for EU project bonds
The president of the European Investment Bank, Philippe Maystadt, argues that the European Union can help find finance without issuing bonds itself.   View Article
Wolfgang Munchau: Saving the bondholders in Irish banks is a disgrace
Munchau says that Ireland’s solvency will depend largely on its future economic growth rate, an issue on which he is less optimistic than the majority of Irish analysts. The decision to dump almost the entire cost of the restructuring of the banking system onto the taxpayer is expedient, but wrong.   View Article
Bruegel: Eurozone needs a permanent bail-out fund
In this column Peter Bofinger, Henrik Enderlein, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and, Bruegel Senior Fellow, André Sapir argue that the eurozone requires an effective stabilisation mechanism to cope with serious market disruption.  View Article

Financial Stability - Policy Analysis

Governor of Banque de France Christian Noyer: Domestic and international financial stability cannot be dissociated
He focused on international financial stability - what it means, whether or not it should be pursued as a major policy objective, and what actions should be taken and which instruments should be employed.   View Article
IIF calls for renewed global coordination to resolve critical economic issues
Charles Dallara, managing director of the IIF, warned of the damaging impact of regulatory fragmentation. Uncoordinated, inconsistent bank taxes and levies can create competitive distortions and encourage regulatory arbitrage.  View Article

Best of Media

El País: Bank of Spain says government needs backup plan in case economic growth disappoints forecast
Bank of Spain Governor, Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, said economists largely agree that the government's forecast for a GDP increase of 1.3 percent in 2011 is too optimistic, with growth more likely to be about 0.6 percent.  View Article



© Graham Bishop