The European Commission has proposed to update the rules on coordination of safe and free movement in the EU, which were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the summer, vaccine uptake has increased significantly and the EU Digital COVID Certificate has been rolled out successfully, with more than 650 million certificates issued to date. At the same time, the epidemiological situation in the EU continues to develop with some Member States taking additional public health measures, including administering booster vaccines. Taking into account all those factors, the Commission is proposing a stronger focus on a ‘person-based’ approach to travel measures and a standard acceptance period for vaccination certificates of 9 months since the primary vaccination series. The 9 month period takes into account the guidance of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on the administration of booster doses as of 6 months, and provides for an additional period of 3 months to ensure that national vaccination campaigns can adjust and citizens can have access to boosters.
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Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, recently gave a speech at the COP26 Finance Day Presidency Event on “A Financial System for Net Zero”, Frankfurt am Main, Glasgow on 3 November 2021. This is his official speech. Our collective journey started in Paris almost four years ago, when eight central banks and supervisors from an already diverse background decided to join forces. Our aim was to rise to the climate challenge and work together to develop the tools we need as central banks and supervisors to foster and accelerate the greening of the global financial system. As a coalition of the willing, we have been working together in the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), which I am proud to chair. Continue reading…

On November 2nd, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a €1 billion pledge at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow as the European Union contribution to the Global Forests Finance Pledge. This 5-year support package from the EU budget will help partner countries to protect, restore and sustainably manage forests worldwide and deliver on the Paris Agreement. President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Forests are the green lungs of the earth. We need to protect and restore them. I gladly announce that we are pledging €1 billion to protect world forests. This is a clear sign of the EU’s commitment to lead global change to protect our planet, in line with our EU Green Deal.” In relation to the Glasgow summit, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte recently made headlines for all the wrong reasons. At the summit, he called for ‘action, action, action’ on climate change, and then a few days later, he made a comment on how the Netherlands was going to continue to invest in fossil energy. He later retracted his comment after receiving backlash from the Dutch people, stating that his words at the summit had little meaning.  Continue reading…

François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France and Chairman of the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de resolution (ACPR), delivered a speech at the ACPR-AMF Forum FinTech, Paris on 11 October 2021. Note: the following is a written version of the official speech. I am very pleased to welcome you to the Banque de France this morning for this annual ACPR-AMF FinTech Forum – and I would also like to welcome Robert Ophèle, Chairman of the AMF. Mr. Minister, dear Cédric, you have once again given us the pleasure of being present for this second forum. The strong attendance of public officials testifies to our collective commitment to FinTechs, which I am convinced are indispensable to the financial sector, as a driver of creativity, vitality and efficiency. Continue reading…

KPMG said it had no choice but to advise Silentnight to file for bankruptcy and be purchased by a private equity firm. This assertion was deemed “fundamentally untrue” by a British disciplinary court. The fact that KPMG attempted to deceive the regulator is unprecedented in the FRC’s history.

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by Frank Staelens

The EU Whistleblower Protection Directive came into force on 16 December 2019. Member States have up till 17 December 2021 to transpose the new EU regulations into national laws. The latest progress reports show that most Member States will not be able to meet this deadline. Even with some delays in some Member States, most EU organisations with more than 250 employees only have a few months left to organise their compliance, while the average implementation time for non complex environments is two months.  Continue reading…

The FSB recently published its new Financial Stability Surveillance Framework. The framework supports the comprehensive, methodical and disciplined review of vulnerabilities by the FSB, and thereby helps to identify and address new and emerging risks to financial stability. The framework embodies four key principles: focus on vulnerabilities that may have implications for global financial stability; scan vulnerabilities systematically and with a forward-looking perspective, while preserving flexibility; recognise differences among countries; and leverage the comparative advantages of the FSB while avoiding duplication of work. Continue reading…

by Elena Pykhova

Operational resilience has always been part of the agenda of financial services firms. During the past 18 months of the widespread long-lasting disruption, it has been put to the test, and it is not surprising that regulatory emphasis on maintaining continuity of critical operations has resulted in multiple recent publications. The Basel Committee’s principles for operational resilience1 urge the firms to up their continuity and recovery capabilities. UK regulatory guidance2 goes a step further, setting out a clear plan and roadmap for firms to define business services and their impact tolerances by March 2022 and ensure their ability to operate within set tolerances by 2025. So, how far advanced are financial services firms in complying with the new set of requirements? Continue reading…

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU securities markets regulator, has published its second Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities (TRV) Report of 2021. The Report highlights the continued rise in valuations across asset classes in an environment of economic recovery and low interest rates, the increased risk taking of investors and the materialisation of event risks such as GameStop, Archegos and Greensill. ESMA continues to see elevated risks and fragile fundamentals, with an outlook for continued high risk and uncertainty over the sustainability of corporate and public debt as well as rising inflation expectations. Continue reading…