The European Commission has presented its Opinions on euro area Member States’ 2020 Draft Budgetary Plans, taken steps under the Stability and Growth Pact and adopted the fourth Enhanced Surveillance Report for Greece. Since July this year and for the first time since 2002, no euro area Member State is under the Excessive Deficit Procedure. The euro area debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to continue its declining path of recent years and to fall from about 86% in 2019 to about 85% in 2020. This is happening against the backdrop of a weakening European and world economy.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against two individuals and two companies they control in connection with an alleged $6 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 55 investors, many of whom are senior citizens or small business owners. According to the SEC’s complaint, Neil Burkholz of Boca Raton, Florida, and Frank Bianco, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, through their companies Palm Financial Management LLC and Shore Management Systems LLC, solicited investors by falsely representing that their proprietary options trading strategies were highly profitable.

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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recently launched the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Singapore. This is the BIS’s first expansion of its global footprint in 17 years. The BIS Innovation Hub will foster innovation and greater collaboration amongst the central banking community globally. It will enhance the understanding of financial technology, and aid the development of innovative solutions to benefit and enhance the financial system. The BIS has also recently established Hub Centres in Hong Kong SAR and Switzerland. Together, the Centres will identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends in technology affecting central banking; develop public goods in the technology space to improve the functioning of the global financial system, and serve as a focal point for a network of central bank experts on innovation.  Continue reading…

Agility has become somewhat of a buzzword in recent months, as experts attempt to pin down the qualities required of businesses if they wish to succeed in today’s challenging environment. For many businesses, Brexit is proving the ultimate test of corporate agility, as boardrooms and risk teams grapple with the huge number of unknowns and a vast spectrum of possible outcomes and timings.

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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published a Consultation Paper on the draft amended Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on passport notification. The review of the two Regulations aims at improving the quality and consistency of information to be provided by a credit institution notifying its home competent authorities when it intends to open a branch or provide services in another Member State, as well as the communication between home and host authorities. The consultation runs until 13 February 2020.

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by Michel Klompmaker

On the 7th of November, the third edition of the Risk & Resilience Festival was held at the University of Twente in Enschede, which was organized by the university, the Society for Risk Management (GvRM) and Public Risk Management Organization (PRIMO). The theme surrounding this riveting event was “Risk meets Resilience for a Sustainable Future”. The overarching theme was also split into eight subthemes, which were resilience, vision & strategy, legal & compliance, technology, financial risks, human factor, operations & safety and data analytics. Around 100 speakers attended the event to share their knowledge and experiences together with about 750 people. Highlights of the event included three keynote speakers and the handing out of awards.

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by Costanza Matteuzzi & Aldo Pedico

In our first part of the article that has been published last week, we discussed the role of the European Union in the field of criminal law, company and personal needs, the requirements of laws, regulations and standards and the implications. Now in this second part, we will discuss the cybersecurity quality system, the paradigm, certification of the cybersecurity quality system process and finally end with a conclusion to our paper.  Continue reading…

The European economy is now in its seventh consecutive year of growth and is forecast to continue expanding in 2020 and 2021. Labour markets remain strong and unemployment continues to fall. However, the external environment has become much less supportive and uncertainty is running high. This is particularly affecting the manufacturing sector, which is also experiencing structural shifts. As a result, the European economy looks to be heading towards a protracted period of more subdued growth and muted inflation.

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Nick Cook, Director of Innovation at the FCA “The world we are living in is changing rapidly, no more so than in financial services. The way we pay our bills, the way we choose our financial products, the way we consume financial services is almost unrecognisable from just a decade ago. Much of this change has been driven by the data revolution which means that firms now know more about their current and potential customers than ever before, allowing them to create increasingly bespoke products and experiences.”

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