This week in "Brussels"

04 July 2019

Basel III implementation assessment, Facebook's Libra, EBA roadmap for the new market and counterparty credit risk approaches, MiFID II, EIOPA outlines key financial stability risks, Council appoints new EU leaders and Parliament appoints President, G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration and more.

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  Articles from 27 June 2019 - 04 July 2019

  Banking Union
 
 
EBA Basel assessment sees impact driven by large banks
The EBA presented the results of its Basel III implementation assessment, which includes a quantitative impact study (QIS) based on data from 189 EU banks, and a comprehensive set of policy recommendations in the area of credit and operational risk, output floor and securities financing transactions.   View Article
ECB: Working paper: Impact of higher capital buffers on banks’ lending and risk-taking: evidence from the euro area experiments
Authors study the impact of higher bank capital buffers, namely of the Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SII) buffer, on banks’ lending and risk-taking behaviour.   View Article
ECB: Occasional paper: Macroprudential stress test of the euro area banking system
This paper presents a macroprudential stress test for 91 significant euro area banks. The stress test considers the evolution of the financial system as a whole and includes various amplification mechanisms.   View Article
ECB publishes Consolidated Banking Data for end-December 2018
The European Central Bank (ECB) has published the Consolidated Banking Data (CBD) with reference to end-December 2018, a data set of the European Union (EU) banking system compiled on a group consolidated basis.  View Article
Project Syndicate: Why policymakers should fear Libra
It is unclear how popular Libra, Facebook's proposed new global cryptocurrency, might become, and what problems this may cause. But inflation – and policymakers’ reduced ability to control it – would be one of the most prominent possible risks, warns a former Chief Economist of the World Bank.  View Article
ECB: Implications of digitalisation in retail payments for the Eurosystem’s catalyst role
This report outlines the current main trends in payment innovation and details the main challenges for stakeholders resulting from these trends.   View Article
Financial Times: Banks need to get ahead of climate change, or else
Banks are where the financial system and the real economy meet. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris climate change agreement will be unattainable unless banks finance solutions to these massive social and environmental challenges.   View Article
 
  Capital Markets Union
 
 
EBA publishes its roadmap for the new market and counterparty credit risk approaches
The EBA published its roadmap on the new market and counterparty credit risk approaches and launched a consultation on eleven draft RTS on the new Internal Model Approach (IMA) under the FRTB (Fundamental Review of the Trading Book) standards along with a data collection exercise on non-modellable risk factors (NMRF).   View Article
Basel Committee revisions to leverage ratio treatment of client cleared derivatives and disclosure requirements to address window-dressing
The BCBS released a revised treatment of client cleared derivatives for purposes of the leverage ratio. The Basel Committee also issued a revision to the leverage ratio disclosure requirements with the aim of reducing excessive volatility in banks' exposures around key reference dates.  View Article
ESMA broadens scrutiny of multiple withholding tax reclaim schemes
ESMA published a report on its preliminary findings on multiple withholding tax (WHT) reclaim schemes, following an European Parliament request, and has launched a formal inquiry to gather further evidence from NCAs on the supervisory practices regarding those schemes across the EU.  View Article
Financial Times: US funds call for rule change in response to MiFID II
SEC told that Europeans will gain advantage unless investment research spending is disclosed.  View Article
ESMA ceases renewal of product intervention measure relating to binary options
ESMA, the EU securities markets’ regulator, will not renew the temporary prohibition of the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options to retail clients in the European Union.  View Article
AFME: CMU - Recommendations for increasing the success of utilities projects
This second paper has been developed by the Working Group to provide sixteen recommendations to support financial institutions and platform providers who are actively considering, or in the process of, developing an industry utility.  View Article
FCA proposes ban on sale of crypto-derivatives to retail consumers
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing rules to address harm to retail consumers from the sale of derivatives and exchange traded notes (ETNs) referencing certain types of crypto-assets.  View Article
 
  Insurance
 
 
EIOPA outlines key financial stability risks of the European insurance and pensions sector
The EIOPA published its June 2019 Financial Stability Report of the (re)insurance and occupational pensions sectors in the European Economic Area.   View Article
IAIS: Public roadmap for 2019
This Public Roadmap serves to inform stakeholders of the IAIS’ key activities and to facilitate greater awareness and engagement in these activities.  View Article
IAIS: 2018 in review
In 2018, the IAIS moved closer to finalising its post-crisis reform agenda, advancing the development of the Common Framework for the Supervision of Internationally Active Insurance Groups (ComFrame), including the Insurance Capital Standard (ICS), and the holistic framework for the assessment and mitigation of systemic risk in the insurance sector.   View Article
 
  Asset Management
 
 
ESMA: Collection of evidence on undue short-term pressure from the financial sector on corporations
The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a questionnaire which aims to gather evidence on potential short-term pressures on corporations stemming from the financial sector.   View Article
EFAMA publishes the 17th Edition of its Fact Book, a comprehensive record of European investment trends
This year’s edition includes an in-depth analysis of recent developments in the European investment fund industry, including new data on the sales of domestic and cross-border funds and the share of domestic funds held abroad, across 29 European countries.   View Article
 
  Corporate Governance/Accounting
 
 
ACCA: Audit and AI – tentative first steps to improve audit quality and efficiency
A survey of ACCA members and affiliates about their understanding of terms: artificial intelligence, machine learning, natural language processing, data analytics and robotic process automation, revealed technology’s ability to renew processes that improve audit quality and increase efficiency.  View Article
Corporate Reporting Dialogue publishes paper on transparency and accountability
The Corporate Reporting Dialogue has published a position paper noting that the world’s leading financial and non-financial corporate reporting frameworks have the same common foundations, based on the key objectives of transparency and accountability.  View Article
 
  Grahams Articles, Comments & Speeches
 
 
153rd Brussels for Breakfast – CPD Notes
Organised by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI), and with co-presenter Simona Amati (KREAB).  View Article
 
  Friends Services
 
 
153rd Brussels for Breakfast – CPD Notes
Organised by the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI), and with co-presenter Simona Amati (KREAB).  View Article
 
  Political
 
 
European Council appoints new EU leaders
The European Council elected its President for the next two and a half years and proposed candidates for President of the European Commission, President of the European Central Bank and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.  View Article
David Sassoli elected President of the European Parliament
MEPs elected David Sassoli as President of the European Parliament.  View Article
Paul Goldschmidt: The contempt of the EU and the UK for their public opinions has become unbearable!
A new political initiative is urgently needed in order to stop Europe’s decadence, writes Goldschmidt.  View Article
 
  Financial
 
 
ECGI: The rise and fall of regulatory competition in corporate insolvency law in the EU
Horst Eidenmüller warns that Britain stands to lose its dominant market position in this industry that is about to start its falling due to Brexit, the recasting of the EIR, and the European Restructuring Directive.  View Article
 
  Economic
 
 
G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration
The Leaders of the G20 met in Osaka, Japan on 28-29 June 2019 to make united efforts to address major global economic challenges.  View Article
OMFIF: Lagarde's shattering ECB move
The selection of the International Monetary Fund managing director and former French finance minister to take over from Mario Draghi on 1 November confirms a new activist era in central bank policy-making – with an intriguing mix of positive and negative consequences.  View Article
City AM: Mark Carney warns trade war could ‘shipwreck’ global economy
Bank of England governor Mark Carney warned that a trade war could “shipwreck” the global economy.   View Article
BIS to set up Innovation Hub for central banks
The Board of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) approved the establishment of a BIS Innovation Hub to foster international collaboration on innovative financial technology within the central banking community complementing the already well established cooperation within the existing committees.  View Article
BIS: Time to ignite all engines, BIS says in its Annual Economic Report
Monetary policy can no longer be the main engine of economic growth, and other policy drivers need to kick in to ensure the global economy achieves sustainable momentum, the Bank for International Settlements points out in its Annual Economic Report.  View Article
EU and Mercosur reach agreement on trade
The new trade framework - part of a wider Association Agreement between the two regions – will consolidate a strategic political and economic partnership and create significant opportunities for sustainable growth on both sides.  View Article
ECB: ESS – ESCB quality assessment report on statistics underlying the macroeconomic imbalance procedure
This fifth joint annual quality report presents a transparent description and assessment of the quality of the statistics underlying the MIP indicators. This report benefited from comments of the Committee for Monetary, Financial and Balance of Payments statistics (CMFB).   View Article
Financial Times: Two proposals for WTO reform
China must be named a non-market economy to stop the trade body sliding into irrelevance, writes Hung Tran.  View Article
June 2019: Economic Sentiment decreases markedly in both the euro area and the EU
In June 2019, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) decreased markedly in both the euro area (by 1.9 points to 103.3) and the EU (by 1.5 points to 102.3).  View Article
Euro area unemployment at 7.5%
The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 7.5% in May 2019, down from 7.6% in April 2019 and from 8.3% in May 2018.   View Article
 

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