The euro was increasingly used as a funding currency by international borrowers in 2014 and early 2015, compared with the previous review period, while the share of the euro in foreign exchange reserves remained broadly stable. These are among the main findings of the report on “The international role of the euro”, which examines developments in the use of the euro by non-euro area residents in 2014 and early 2015 and was published today by the European Central Bank (ECB). Continue reading…

Policyholders should be willing to pay higher insurance premiums for contract certainty, according to an Airmic report on the importance of business-critical insurance launched at its annual conference. Produced in conjunction with PwC, it urges policyholders and insurers to raise awareness at board level of the strategic value of certain types of insurance. Continue reading…

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided today to maintain the provision of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks at the level decided on 26 June 2015 after discussing a proposal from the Bank of Greece.

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Officials in the USA have announced an $18.7 billion settlement with BP that resolves years of litigation over the oil spill of five years ago.
The settlement announcement comes as a federal judge was preparing to rule on how much BP owed in federal Clean Water Act penalties after million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers.

By Peter Praet

Long-run growth, monetary policy and financing of the economy may seem like an unusual combination of topics, as it is often argued that monetary policy has no long-run effects. Monetary policy can however affect long-run growth in several ways. Continue reading…

Euro area systemic stress has remained low over the past six months, according to the latest Financial Stability Review of the European Central Bank (ECB), which was released recently. This also reflects ECB action that calmed fears of a too prolonged period of low inflation threatening to harm both price and financial stability.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an Opinion to the European Union (EU) institutions on the impact of EMIR on UCITS. In the opinion, ESMA calls for a modification of the UCITS Directive to take into account the clearing obligations for certain types of over-the-counter (OTC) financial derivative transactions under EMIR.
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A few days ago, information related to planned confidential Bank work on the potential implications of a renegotiation and national referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union made its way into the public domain, due to an internal email sent inadvertently to an external party. Continue reading…

by Andy Scherpenberg

VAT carousels, intentional road collisions to defraud the insurance companies, ‘man in the browser’ technology that intercepts your financial transactions and modifies both amount and account number while you are still seeing the usual transaction screens: fraud has permeated every sector and is taking new forms and shapes. Fraudsters are becoming smarter by the day and they have access to more and more resources. In a previous blog post you could already get a sense if the impressive weaponry that the fraudsters have at their disposal. Continue reading…

Businesses should consider appointing an executive risk leader to navigate today’s increasingly complex world, or risk leaving their company exposed to the next big crisis, according to Airmic and other leading business organisations. The association’s CEO, John Hurrell, (see photo above)  has said this would open up exciting opportunities for risk professionals wanting a more strategic influence in their business.

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