In the early hours of 4 September, coordinated simultaneous actions in Basilicata (Italy) and in the Republic of Moldova resulted in the takedown of a criminal human trafficking network, saving nearly 90 victims from severe labour exploitation under horrid conditions. In the coming days, authorities will focus on tracing the victims of exploitation to provide legal assistance and protection. The joint action was the result of an intense investigative effort and structured international judicial cooperation during the past year coordinated through the Italian Desk at Eurojust in close cooperation with the Eurojust contact point in the Republic of Moldova at the General Prosecutor’s Office and with the support of Europol. Continue reading…

The sterling, Japanese yen, Swiss franc and euro LIBOR panels are ceasing on 31 December 2021. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently confirmed that to avoid disruption to legacy contracts that reference the one-, three- and six-month sterling and Japanese yen LIBOR settings, it will require the LIBOR benchmark administrator to publish these settings under a “synthetic” methodology, based on term risk-free rates, for the duration of 2022. These 6 LIBOR settings will be available only for use in some legacy contracts, and are not for use in new business. The recent publications also include a consultation paper on the FCA’s proposed decision on which legacy contracts can use these synthetic LIBOR rates. Continue reading…

While the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt the corporate landscape in the present, the new edition of ECIIA’s Risk in Focus Report highlights climate change as the rising risk of the future. The Risk in Focus 2022 tracks the risks facing organisations year-on-year as ranked by more than 700 Chief Audit Executives (CAEs) representing a range of organisations including leading businesses, public sector organisations and NGOs from across Europe. Climate change has been steadily moving up on the agenda, climbing four positions in the rankings since 2021 and seeing a 41% increase in CAEs who view it as a top five risk, putting it in the top ten for the first time. But, 7 in 10 (69%) of CAEs still don’t consider climate change as a ‘top five’ risk to business, and just one in 10 (12%) internal audit teams have said they are prioritising spending significant time and effort preparing for the ‘existential risk’ of climate change. So, we encourage organisations to act now to avoid disruption in the future. Continue reading…

Dr. Sabine Mauderer, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, recently gave a speech on 14 September 2021 at the International Conference on Statistics for Sustainable Finance, jointly organised by the Bank of France, Deutsche Bundesbank and the Irving Fisher Committee on Central Bank Statistics, Paris. She was delighted to be there. It gave her the opportunity to talk about two subjects close to her heart: Sustainable finance and the availability of good quality data. Many of us laughed when – almost ten years ago – the Harvard Business Review proclaimed that ‘data scientist’ would be the sexiest job of the 21st century. But as we all know, statistics and data have been growing in importance all the time, propelled by fascinating technological changes. Continue reading…

On August 31st, the EU has reached a crucial milestone with 70% of the adult population now fully vaccinated. In total, over 256 million adults in the EU have now received a full vaccine course. Seven weeks ago already, the Commission’s delivery target was met, ahead of time: to provide Member States, by the end of July, with enough vaccine doses to fully vaccinate 70% of the adult EU population.

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by Dan Mihai

City Insurance is at risk of becoming bankrupt because of its hundreds of millions of euros in debt. The company failed to prove to the Romanian Supervisory Financial Authority (ASF) that it holds the legal minimum amount of money (150 mil. €) in order for it to operate, thus risking its operating license to be taken away. A dutch investment fund of questionable origins bought the insurance company for the necessary amount, but didn’t keep its commitment of making the payment in time. Tens of thousands of opened claims from the City Insurance clients are going to be transferred to the Guarantee Fund for the Insured (FGA). Continue reading…

On Thursday 9 September 2021, Richard Faithfull was sentenced to five years and 10 months imprisonment for laundering money, contrary to s.327 Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. He was also disqualified from being a company director for a period of 10 years. Faithfull had previously pleaded guilty to that offence on 16 April 2021 and put forward a basis of plea that sought to minimise his role in the offending. The FCA did not accept Faithfull’s basis of plea and the matter was listed for a Newton hearing – a trial of fact on a plea before a single judge – to determine the basis upon which he should be sentenced. 

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The European Central Bank (ECB) has successfully introduced interaction on Fit and Proper testing with significant institutions and their advisors via a dedicated infrastructure called IMAS Portal. Two new procedure types will be onboarded in the coming months to the ECB’s IMAS Portal, i.e. passporting notifications and qualifying holding procedures. They will be onboarded end of (i.e. 27) September 2021. Passporting notifications and applications with regard to qualifying holdings will therefore need to be submitted via the IMAS portal as of 1 January 2022. This relates to passporting notifications by and qualifying holdings in Dutch banks. Hence, significant and less significant Dutch banks.  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…

Benoît Cœuré, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub,  gave a speech on Friday 10 September 2021 at the Eurofi Financial Forum, Ljubljana. We all experienced how the pandemic accelerated the shift to virtual events, but he was pleased that he could gather in person. Yet the world is not returning to the old normal. Payments are a case in point. The pandemic has accelerated a longer-running move to digital. Mobile and contactless payments are already part of our daily lives; QR codes and “buy now, pay later” options are gaining popularity; gloves, badges and Olympic uniforms with payment functions are being prepared for the Beijing Winter Olympics; and the tech-savvy generation will soon dream about money and payments for the metaverse. Continue reading…