Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, recently gave a keynote speech via video conference from Singapore. COVID-19 has triggered the sharpest contraction in the global economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. We can expect a gradual recovery from the third quarter onwards as countries re-open their economies. But there is considerable uncertainty about the strength and durability of this recovery. The trajectory of the economy will be largely shaped by the trajectory of the pandemic – which is itself a significant source of uncertainty. The risk of secondary waves of infection is not trivial. Those countries that have put in place strong safe management measures and a robust regime of testing, contact tracing, and swift isolation of infected persons, are more likely to minimise a second outbreak of infections and sustain their economic recovery.  Continue reading…

by Ahsan Habib

Sanctions cannot bring about success in isolation. The dialogue with the target country must be ongoing, both at the official and diplomatic level and via view exchanges with citizens and opposition groups in the target country. I would like to start with remembering the fairytale (which was quite familiar to me when I was a young child back home in Bangladesh) in which a little girl had a choice of three beds in which she could take a nap. The father’s bed was too hard, the mother’s was too soft, and only the baby bear’s bed was comfortable enough for her in which to fall asleep, finally she picked the bear’s one. Undoubtedly, those who impose sanctions should recall that Goldilocks (that little girl in the fairytale ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’) only slept soundly when she found the bed that was neither too soft nor too hard. Sounds weird at the beginning!! Trust me, it’s not weird, but rather relevant. Continue reading…

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently extended its recommendation to banks on dividend distributions and share buy-backs until 1 January 2021 and asked banks to be extremely moderate with regard to variable remuneration. It also clarified that it will give enough time for banks to replenish their capital and liquidity buffers in order not to act pro-cyclically. This updated recommendation on dividend distributions remains temporary and exceptional and is aimed at preserving banks’ capacity to absorb losses and support the economy in this environment of exceptional uncertainty. This uncertainty makes it difficult for banks to accurately forecast their capital positions. As demonstrated by the vulnerability analysis the level of capital in the system could decline significantly if a severe scenario were to materialise. Continue reading…

Judicial authorities in Germany are conducting an in-depth fraud investigation on the use of more than 200,000 diesel ‘defeat devices’ in cars produced by an international automotive group and international commercial vehicle manufacturer, as well as their subsidiaries. Coordinated searches to gather evidence are being carried out in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The action was planned and coordinated with the support of Eurojust to ensure secure and efficient information exchanges between involved judicial and law enforcement authorities, agree on joint prosecutorial strategies and prepare operational actions, including today’s searches. The Frankfurt am Main Prosecution Service – Center for Commercial Criminal Matters – is leading the investigation in Germany against a number of responsible people working in the international automotive group. The investigation is focused on the suspicion that diesel engines installed in several car models sold by the company would be equipped with an illegal defeat device.  Continue reading…

by Frank Staelens

I would like to explain the regulation’s broad impact and to offer guidance for compliance. Most listed companies and large public organisations already consider whistleblowing management as an important governance mechanism with, in most cases, boards/audit committees being accountable to measure its effectiveness. This group is now moving toward the use of whistleblowing systems beyond reporting wrongdoing and starting to understand that instilling a transparent, “speak up” culture is perceived by stakeholders as a sign of good health. However, many other organisations still have a different position on the subject. But keep in mind, within the EU all member states have until December 17, 2021 to transpose the new whistleblower protection rules into national law.  Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

Let’s start with the facts. Last week was the worst week to date, with 1.794,124 registered infections. Many politicians seem to be turning a blind eye to this reality and we should fear the fact that global figures, especially in Asia and Africa, are not correct. After all, not all cases of infections were registered in a reasonably civilised country such as the Netherlands. Meanwhile, EU Commissioner Gentiloni says “It is time to pump new confidence and new money into our economies in this critical situation.” There are now more than 17 million registered coronavirus patients worldwide and the EU has adjusted its economic expectations for the EU countries downwards. Continue reading…

by Alex Movchan

We recently had an opportunity to speak with a man named Edmund Saunders, CICA, CFE (President of Institute for Internal Controls Europe, ex-advisor from the UK government to Polish officials in the banking sector). He is also very experienced and dedicated in the following fields of internal control, fraud, internal auditing, risk management, international banking and anti-fraud and anti-corruption – identification, avoidance and combatting techniques. Dear Edmund, thank you for finding time for the interview. I know that you have a lot of experience in building internal control systems, mostly in financial institutions, all around the world (in UK, Switzerland, USA, Poland, etc.). In your opinion, what should be the core focus, the main 2-3 objectives to focus on, while building an effective control system within an organisation? Continue reading…

The European Commission recently recommended that Member States do not grant financial support to companies with links to countries that are on the EU’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. Restrictions should also apply to companies that have been convicted of serious financial crimes, including, among others, financial fraud, corruption, non-payment of tax and social security obligations. The aim of today’s recommendation is to provide guidance to Member States on how to set conditions to financial support that prevent the misuse of public funds and to strengthen safeguards against tax abuse throughout the EU, in line with EU laws. By coordinating restrictions on financial support, Member States would also prevent mismatches and distortions within the Single Market.  Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

The WHO has reported a record number of new infections worldwide in recent days. The health organisation reported last Saturday that 224,260 new infections worldwide were registered in one day. And then we are only talking about the cases known to WHO. It can be guessed that the situation is even more serious, because even in a civilised country like the Netherlands, many infections were simply not reported. But what does this mean for the global economy? Let’s take a closer look at two major players from across the ocean, then it will soon be clear that the worst is yet to come. Most reports from the past few days come from the United States and Brazil. Together these countries account for almost half of all new infections worldwide, but many people in India have also tested positive for the virus. A few figures: The number of new worldwide registered new infections in the week of June 29 – July 5 was 1,230,000. Last June, the WHO recorded a record number of new infections of 5,303,000 compared to more than 2,300,000 last April. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

In many parts of the world, the coronavirus has been ruthless. This is also the case in the southern states of the USA. Viewed from a Western European perspective, the pandemic appears to be somewhat extinguished, but this is by no means the case from the perspective of the coronavirus itself. Very worrying is the recent increase in the worldwide number of registered infections from about 10 million on June 27 to more than 13 million on July 12. In part two of our series “Lockdown or Knockout?” we take a moment to reflect on what has recently happened in Texas and in passing we take the opinion of a German virologist from the University of Bonn. Continue reading…