Welcome to our Friends Standard weekly e-mail. 

We are now focussed on the big themes for the next legislative period - targeting the interaction of the driving forces of politics and economics as they force the required changes in over-arching financial regulation (including ESG and Fin Tech). Details of these services are here

My video invitation to the 157th Brussels for Breakfast on 5th December is here. Some seats are available at the live meeting at CISI, and I would be delighted to hear suggestions for topics that should be covered. E-mail me: Graham@grahambishop.com

Interested in Continuing Professional Development (CPD)? Please click here for our CPD services

Banking Union

EBA launches consultation on disclosure and reporting of MREL and TLAC : This is the first time that the EBA introduces harmonised reporting and disclosure requirements for MREL and TLAC. These draft ITS follow an integrated approach and, in the case of disclosures, are aligned with the Basel Pillar 3 standards. By integrating disclosures and reporting, the EBA seeks to maximise efficiency by institutions, and to facilitate the use of information by authorities and market participants.  View Article

BIS: Joint BCBS-BCG statement on proportionality : The Basel Committee and the Basel Consultative Group (BCG) support the use of proportionality in implementing the Basel Framework in a manner consistent with the Core Principles. The Basel Framework envisions a range of approaches, from simpler standardised approaches to advanced approaches. View Article

ECB's Mersch: Future-proofing the European banking market – removing the obstacles to exit : Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, about the ECB's efforts toward facilitating bank failures and bank M&A. View Article

EBF: EU agenda holds opportunity of leveraging banking for global competitiveness and sustainable finance : The Board of the EBF called on the EU to leverage its fresh regulatory agenda for the financial sector to boost the global competitiveness of the European economy while more effectively engaging banks in financing the transition towards a sustainable society and in fighting financial crime. View Article

European Council: Non-performing loans: Council adopts position on a new mechanism for out-of-court enforcement : EU ambassadors approved the Council's position on a proposal for a common framework and minimum requirements for out-of-court mechanism to recover the value from loans guaranteed with collateral in case the borrower is not able to pay it back. Effective out-of-court enforcement can help prevent the accumulation of non-performing loans (NPLs), as it provides banks with legal instruments to recover collateral more quickly. View Article

The Economist: What next for Europe’s banking union? : When Olaf Scholz, Germany’s finance minister, cautiously accepted the idea of a common deposit-insurance scheme on November 5th, that removed one point of contention. But as one row is resolved, another—on the regulatory treatment of banks’ holdings of sovereign debt—has reopened. View Article

Steven Maijoor - WKZO

Financial Institutions

ESMA: Steven Maijoor delivers keynote at EFAMA Investment Management Forum : The Chair of the ESMA, Steven Maijoor, has delivered the keynote address at EFAMA’s Investment Management in which he focused on fund liquidity and how asset management can play a role in the Capital Markets Union, while supporting investor protection and financial stability. View Article

Capital Markets Union

EBA consults on specific supervisory reporting requirements for market risk : The EBA launched a public consultation on specific supervisory reporting requirements for market risk, which are the first elements of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) introduced by the revised Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR2) in the prudential framework of the EU. View Article

ICMA: New market buy-in regime threatens European bond market liquidity : ICMA published a study on the expected impact of the new mandatory buy-in regime, to be introduced in 2020 under the EU Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR), on bond markets in Europe. View Article

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)

Financial Times: Brussels eyes easing bank rules to spur green lending : Brussels is exploring a proposal to ease EU banking rules in a bid to spur green investment in Europe. View Article

ECB: Luis de Guindos: Implications of the transition to a low-carbon economy for the euro area financial system : The necessary transition to a low-carbon economy entails risks for the financial system. Correctly assessing these risks requires a higher quantity and quality of disclosures. The ECB is contributing to the development of an analytical framework for climate risk assessment, and developing methods to gauge exposures to climate-related risks on the balance sheets of financial institutions. View Article

Friends' Standard Services

Graham Bishop re-elected to the National Council of the European Movement (UK) : We are delighted to announce that Graham Bishop has been re-elected to the National Council of the European Movement (UK) for a fourth term. View Article

Broadening the International Role of the Euro

SUERF: Following “Libra” German banks say: The economy needs a programmable digital euro : The German private banks support the creation of a programmable account and crypto-based digital euro and say that its interoperability with book money ensured. The condition for this is establishing a common pan-European payments platform for the programmable digital euro. View Article

Economic Policies Impacting EU Finance

OECD Economic Outlook: Weak trade and investment threaten long-term growth : Trade conflict, weak business investment and persistent political uncertainty are weighing on the world economy and raising the risk of long-term stagnation, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook. View Article

New Europe: Lagarde says EU should turn to domestic demand for growth : Making clear that in her view that is a systemic or eurozone issue, Lagarde called for investment that would bolster productivity, allowing Europe to remain at the forefront of global value chains. Lagarde made clear that was a challenge that was not “country-specific.” View Article

Ursula Von Der Leyen - POLITICO

EU27 Politics

EurActiv: Parliament backs von der Leyen’s ‘fresh start for Europe’ Commission : The European Parliament gave the green light to Ursula von der Leyen’s college of Commissioners “for a fresh start for Europe”. View Article

Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	Bloomberg Brexit @Brexit
British automakers warn that the next U.K. government needs to deliver a “world-beating Brexit trade deal” to bolster their competitiveness bloom.bg/2On0f8O
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	FT Brussels @ftbrussels
Green finance: credit check on.ft.com/2XRK4Dz
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	Romesh Vaitilingam @econromesh
Economic consequences of Brexit are overwhelmingly negative, @CEP_LSE analysis @lsebrexitvote, #GE2019Economists @swatdhingraLSE & Thomas Sampson, #GE2019 blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/11…
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	Peter Foster @pmdfoster
NEW: Boris Johnson's 'arbitrary' Brexit deadline will damage UK economy, warn 14 UK trade experts in letter to @Telegraph - lamenting falsehoods on both sides and calling for equivalent of OBR to help create fact-based conversation around trade /1. telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/…
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	Alessandro Speciale @aspeciale
Firms in France, Germany, #Italy and Spain may face the biggest burden if Olaf Scholz’s plans on European banking integration come to fruition bloomberg.com/news/articles/… via @markets @WeberAlexander
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	European Commission ???? @EU_Commission
Replying to @vonderleyen Following today's positive vote by the European Parliament, the #vdLCommission will officially start on 1 December 2019. Missed the speech by President-elect @vonderleyen? Watch it here. pscp.tv/w/1lPJqenLzeQJb
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	FT Brussels @ftbrussels
Michel Barnier pledges to prioritise UK trade deal post-Brexit on.ft.com/2qMfBuo
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	Bloomberg Brexit @Brexit
More than 160 economists and academics have backed Labour’s election promises as the best way to help the U.K. economy bloom.bg/2qNXT9T
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	BBC Politics @BBCPolitics
Boris Johnson's push to "get Brexit done" by December 2020 is "diplomatic amateurism" that raises the risk of leaving without a deal, warns former UK ambassador to EU Sir Ivan Rogers bbc.in/2sgvcTr
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	The Guardian @guardian
The latest poll shows Labour at 34% – the party's highest since May theguardian.com/politics/ng-in…