The European Commission is taking stock of its overall approach to equivalence in the area of financial services. EU equivalence has become a significant tool in recent years, fostering the integration of global financial markets and cooperation with third-country authorities. The EU assesses the overall policy context and to what extent the regulatory regimes of a given third country achieves the same outcomes as its own rules. A positive equivalence decision, which is a unilateral measure by the Commission, allows EU authorities to rely on third-country rules and supervision, allowing market participants from third countries who are active in the EU to comply with only one set of rules. Past Communication also sets out how recent updates to EU legislation will ensure even greater effectiveness of the EU single rulebook, supervision and monitoring, while also fostering cross-border business in global markets. The Commission has, to date, taken over 280 equivalence decisions with regard to over 30 countries.
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The European Union will ensure a greater level of protection to whistleblowers that operate in a range of various sectors, namely money laundering, transport safety, financial services, pubic procurement, nuclear safety and consumer and data protection. The legislation is going to be formally signed and published in the Official journal, of which the member states will have two years to incorporate the new rules into their national laws. On October 7, the European Council of Ministers formally adopted the Whistleblowing Directive that was passed by the European Union Parliament in April of this year. The Council recently formally adopted the new rules to the protection of whistleblowers. Continue reading…

by Bob Goulooze

In order to create economies of scale, national airline companies are looking for partners, preferably equal ones, but certainly ones that may complement the current services of the flag carrier. In 2004, Air France (AF) merged with KLM and troubles have arisen since then. AF is the biggest partner in the joint venture with KLM and claimed the lead from day one. Those who are familiar with the way the French work couldn’t believe in the first place that this would be a match made in heaven. The French have the patronage system, which is a social unequal relationship between a powerful and less powerful partner. The powerful ‘patron’ renders favors to the subservient one in return for services, adherence, and homage. You don’t have to be culturally savvy to understand that such a patronage relationship is so un-Dutch, at least being at the receiving end. The Dutch have a more equal culture in which reaching consensus is the bottom line.
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published its quarterly Risk Dashboard covering Q2 data, which summarises the main risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector. Capital ratios have remained broadly stable and banks’ asset quality has further improved. However, low profitability keeps on being a key challenge for the sector.

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The FCA has published the interim report of its market study into the pricing of home and motor insurance. The FCA found that competition is not working well for all consumers in these markets. It sets out concerns about how pricing in these markets leads to consumers who do not switch or negotiate with their provider paying high prices for their insurance.

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IT Governance, the leading provider of cyber security and privacy management solutions, has released a new green paper: ISO 27701 – Privacy information management systems. ISO/IEC 27701:2019 is a new privacy-focused standard that provides organisations with a comprehensive set of guidelines for managing security of information and personal data. The Standard builds upon the internationally recognised standard for information security management, ISO 27001, and specifies the requirements for developing a privacy information management system (PIMS) as an extension to an established ISO 27001 information security management system (ISMS).

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The Committee on the Global Financial System (CGFS) and the Markets Committee have published two major reports on the implementation and implications of unconventional monetary policy tools (UMPTs) introduced by central banks in response to the financial crisis and its aftermath. After a decade of experience with UMPTs, and with many tools still in place, the CGFS report Unconventional monetary policy tools: a cross-country analysis summarises the shared understanding of central banks on the tools’ use, effectiveness and side effects.

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by Elina Karpacheva

The future is in digitalisation of financial services. Traditional financial institutions are changing under the disruptive technology that stems from the FinTech sector. Banks, lending, payment, e-money companies, and investment firms have embraced new business models and opportunities for growth by partnering with providers of technology-enabled services. Outsourcing of business activities as a strategy proved value maximising for the financial industry. Continue reading…

The European Central Bank has published today its “Euro money market study 2018”. The study aims to provide a detailed overview of euro area money markets, with a focus on the key developments and dynamics in various money market segments. The 2018 study is the first using data on daily transactions in the euro money market collected from the largest euro area banks through the Money Market Statistical Regulation, ECB/2014/48. Previous Euro money market studies – including the last one published, in 2015 – were based on less detailed and timely information collected through a survey of a sample of banks.

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The European Central Bank (ECB) has imposed an administrative penalty for an amount of € 5,150,000 on Piraeus Bank S.A. Piraeus Bank S.A found in breach of own funds provisions on an individual and on a consolidated basis during six consecutive quarterly reporting periods between 2015 and 2017 committed under the direction of the former management of Piraeus Bank S.A.

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