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

The 158th Brussels 4 Breakfast was particularly rumbustious as the expert audience tried to pin down the UK's negotiation team and wish-list - in contrast to the clartiy about to be provided on the EU side. The notes are here and the video of the 49th Brussels 4 Brunch at CISI is here. Unusually, I recorded my opening comments explaing the process of creating a trade deal with the EU -  the podcast is available here.

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General Policy

AFME and Linklaters publish report on financial services conduct supervision : The report articulates the approach to conduct supervision taken by financial regulators in France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. View Article

Banking Union

BIS: Margarita Delgado: The European Banking Union : Speech by Ms Margarita Delgado, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Spain, in which she delves into what the SSM has meant for supervisors and for the functioning of the European banking sector. Then she goes beyond the SSM and talks about the European Banking project.  View Article

Financial Times: European Banking Authority plans overhaul of EU bank stress tests : Lenders will have more leeway to police themselves under a planned overhaul of the biennial bank stress tests carried out by the European Banking Authority.  View Article

Financial Institutions

AMIC and EFAMA update their report on managing fund liquidity risk in Europe : The updated report shows that since 2016, the EU regulatory framework has been further enhanced following the adoption of new rules and standards. View Article

IPE: Pension funds increase slice of lending market as shadow banking slows : A major international financial stability report shows that shadow banking slowed in 2018, and reveals pension funds as the fastest-growing extenders of credit in that year. View Article

Protecting Customers

European Forum of Securities Associations paper calls for recalibration of MiFID 2/R : Ahead of the European Commission’s MiFID2/R Review, EFSA published a paper calling for certain areas of regulation to be recalibrated in order to deliver its intended policy outcome of establishing a more transparent financial system that works to the benefit of the economy and society as a whole. View Article

Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG)

IFAC: Urgent call for improved UN Sustainable Development Goals disclosures : Leading accounting bodies and other organisations have called for corporate and asset owner action and improved reporting on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in an attempt to hit goals set for 2030. The recommendations are detailed in the report, Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure (SDGD) Recommendations. View Article

Fin Tech Regulation

ECB: Central bank group to assess potential cases for central bank digital currencies : The Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank and the Swiss National Bank, together with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), have created a group to share experiences as they assess the potential cases for central bank digital currency (CBDC) in their home jurisdictions. View Article

Friends' Standard Services

49th Brussels for Brunch Webinar January 2020 : Video of the 49th Brussels 4 Brunch. View Article

8 minute podcast to explain the process of creating a trade deal with the EU : Graham Bishop explains briefly the process the UK will have to go through to build its new trade deal with the EU once it has left the bloc. View Article

Economic Policies Impacting EU Finance

Main results - Eurogroup : In regular format, the Eurogroup discussed the euro area recommendation proposed by the European Commission. In inclusive format, ministers exchanged views on the organisation of the further work on the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). View Article

Main results - Economic and Financial Affairs Council : The Economic and Financial Affairs Council discussed digital taxation and the European Green Deal. It also kick-started the 2020 European Semester exercise. View Article

POLITICO: EU trade chief: Effort to ease tensions with US off to ‘good start’ : European Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said he was optimistic that the United States and the European Union could work together on trade even though he received no promises that the Trump administration would hold off on adding tariffs on about $10 billion worth of European goods. View Article

The New York Times: France says US would consider multinational plan for digital taxes : France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, said the United States and France had reached a broad framework for using a plan that was being developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to set digital taxes, but further talks were needed. View Article

EU27 Politics

EurActiv: EU must step up Single Market enforcement, states tell Commission : The European Union must step up the application and enforcement of Single Market law or risk losing ‘credibility and effectiveness’, according to a leaked paper to the EU executive signed by 14 member states. View Article

Ursula Von der Leyen - EPC

Shaping the Conference on the Future of Europe : The European Commission set out its ideas for shaping the Conference on the Future of Europe, which should be launched on Europe Day, 9 May 2020 and run for two years.  View Article

Project Syndicate: Finding Europe’s way in the world : Europe has long resided in the strategic shadow of the US, which itself has underwritten decades of globalization and rapidly expanding prosperity. But the global balance of power is rapidly shifting, leaving Europe increasingly exposed, write Sigmar Gabriel and Michael Hüther. View Article

Brexit

The Independent: Belgian region of Wallonia vows to block another EU trade deal, in unsubtle Brexit foreshadowing : The Belgian region of Wallonia has vowed to block an EU trade deal with South America, foreshadowing the kind of barriers Britain will face as it tries to secure a quick agreement with the bloc.  View Article

Financial Times: US threatens UK with car tariffs as digital tax row heats up : The latest ratcheting up of pressure by the US underlined the difficulty of achieving both countries’ ambition to secure a trade agreement this year. View Article

The Independent: Boris Johnson orders Trump trade talks to begin the day after UK leaves the EU : Boris Johnson has tasked negotiators to begin US trade talks in parallel with EU discussions as he seeks to stamp his authority on the critical next phase of Brexit. View Article

Sajid Javid - FT

Financial Times: Forget staying close to EU after Brexit, chancellor tells business : Sajid Javid, the UK chancellor, has delivered a tough message to business leaders to end their campaign for Britain to stay in lock-step with Brussels rules after Brexit, telling them they have already had three years to prepare for a new trading relationship. View Article

Financial Times: Boris Johnson accused of ‘brinkmanship’ by EU trade chief : The EU’s trade chief has accused Boris Johnson of Brexit “brinkmanship”, complaining that the British prime minister’s approach to negotiations was creating uncertainty for business. View Article

Financial Times: UK faces fines if it breaks post-Brexit EU trade rules : The UK could be fined or lose preferential access to the European market if it violates the terms of a future relationship deal with the EU, under plans presented by the European Commission. View Article

 

Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	The Independent @Independent
EU says Brexit trade deal needs power to fine UK if it breaks rules independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	City A.M. @CityAM
Exclusive: UK to start US trade talks before EU discussions dlvr.it/RNW9vp pic.twitter.com/JTOV0Plhsh
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	FT Brussels @ftbrussels
UK faces fines if it breaks post-Brexit EU trade rules on.ft.com/2R8EHOx
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	City A.M. @CityAM
Chancellor Sajid Javid warns business 'there will be no alignment' with EU on regulations dlvr.it/RNGyVV
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	POLITICO Europe @POLITICOEurope
"The more reasonable are the demands of the U.K., the more reasonably we can agree," warns Amélie de Montchalin politi.co/36075H0
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	FT Brussels @ftbrussels
Angela Merkel warns EU: ‘Brexit is a wake-up call’ on.ft.com/2Tu8qTx
Graham Bishop #FBPE retweeted
	FT Brussels @ftbrussels
Boris Johnson accused of ‘brinkmanship’ by EU trade chief on.ft.com/2FTWd2u