Lidl Ireland has launched its Eastern European Week on 29th August, offering a selection of authentic Ukrainian food and drink products for the first time in stores across the country. This new initiative follows the success of Lidl’s renowned “Tastes of the World” campaigns, which have previously featured popular themes such as Italiamo, Vitasio – Japanese Style, and Eridanous – Greek Style. Continue reading…

by Olaf Sleijpen

Our world is currently threatened by increasing fragmentation, both political and economic. This makes it increasingly difficult to foresee all shocks, and so, it has brought new challenges to the community of macroprudential experts,’ concluded Olaf Sleijpen in his opening speech at the 8th Annual Macroprudential Conference, organised by the Bundesbank, the Sveriges Riksbank and De Nederlandsche Bank. I would like to share latest on a number of macroprudential topics, but also to talk about that one thing that’s on every central banker’s mind… money. Now, I don’t want to talk about some abstract notion of money today. No, I’d like to talk about a very particular coin. And that’s the Reichsthaler in German, the riksdaler in Swedish, and the rijksdaalder in Dutch. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

The Digital Operational Resilience Act, better known as DORA, was introduced in the EU last year. We talked about it with subject matter expert and Legal Director and Global Data Governance Officer at Commvault, Jakub Lewandowski. Continue reading…

by Elena Pykhova

The three lines of defence (3LOD) model, which had its origins in military planning and sports management, is now firmly engrained into the DNA of financial services firms. It is widely viewed as an important factor in the successful embedding of enterprise risk management. Designed by the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the model distinguishes between the three groups (or lines) involved in effective risk management:

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by Christine Lagarde

The Governing Council decided last week to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. The incoming information has broadly confirmed our previous assessment of the medium-term inflation outlook. Inflation has continued to fall, led by lower food and goods price inflation. Most measures of underlying inflation are easing, wage growth is gradually moderating, and firms are absorbing part of the rise in labour costs in their profits. Financing conditions remain restrictive and our past interest rate increases continue to weigh on demand, which is helping to push down inflation. But domestic price pressures are strong and are keeping services price inflation high. Continue reading…

by Hans Timmrman

In 2019, the initiative ‘Positive Money Europe’ was launched. It is a non-profit organization aimed at repairing the ‘broken’ financial system in Europe and making the economy fairer, more democratic, and more sustainable. In their view, the European Central Bank (ECB) does too little for the average citizen and thereby for our society as a whole. Their example was ‘Positive Money UK’, which similarly focused on the Bank of England with a successful campaign called ‘Quantitative Easing for the People’. In short, all the money printed by central banks, partly due to significant inflation, primarily benefits financial institutions and hardly benefits the population. They want to change that. The ECB should primarily serve EU citizens. In this pursuit, they see the Digital European currency (CBDC) as an innovative solution to this problem. Continue reading…

by Uzi Rosha

Compliance programs serve as a critical foundation for ensuring financial institutions operate within legal and regulatory boundaries. The dynamic and complex nature of financial regulations necessitates a strategic approach to compliance, one that is proactive, adaptable, and comprehensive. Traditional compliance frameworks, while foundational, often struggle to keep pace with the rapid evolution of financial products, services, and regulations. In the rapidly evolving financial sector, technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of compliance programs. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

On 1 June 2023, The European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD for short). This directive requires all large organisations in Europe to identify and, where necessary, prevent, eliminate or reduce the negative impact of their activities on human rights and the environment in their value chains. Thus, the CSDDD is a duty of due diligence that affects entire value chains. We talked about this directive with Johan Löfquist, Head of Sustainability Data at Worldfavor. Continue reading…

by Uzi Rosha

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and increasing complexity, financial institutions face significant challenges in maintaining compliance with an ever-expanding array of legal and regulatory requirements. Financial firms have the opportunity to integrate technology to enhance effectiveness and efficiency, better meeting regulatory expectations and gaining competitive advantage. Continue reading…

by Elena Pykhova

This year’s view of the risk landscape from Best Practice Operational Risk Forum; members ranked top Operational risks in order of significance: Continue reading…