Introductory statement by Mr Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank, and Mr Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank. We will  report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council, which was also attended by the Commission Vice-President, Mr Dombrovskis. Based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged. We continue to expect them to remain at their present levels at least through the summer of 2019, and in any case for as long as necessary to ensure the continued sustained convergence of inflation to levels that are below, but close to, 2% over the medium term.
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ING announced that Koos Timmermans will step down from his position as chief financial officer and member of the Executive Board of ING Group and will leave the company. His resignation follows the announcement on 4 September 2018 of the settlement regarding shortcomings in the execution of customer due diligence policies to prevent financial economic crime at ING Netherlands. During the investigated period (2010-2016) Koos Timmermans was a member of the Management Board Banking and for several years end-responsible for ING Netherlands. In light of these circumstances and in consultation with the Supervisory Board, Koos Timmermans will step down.
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With just under a year to go until the UK leaves the EU a lot of attention has been paid to how the insurance industry is responding to Brexit and the disruption it will cause. There has been much less information about Captives – yet the implications for them are far-reaching. Simon Burtwell, Jenny Coletta, Ben Reid, and Martin Powell of EY provide an overview of the key challenges.
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At his keynote speech at the Global Capital Sustainable & Responsible Markets Forum, Frank Elderson, first Chairman of The Network ON Greening the Financial system (NGFS). shed his light on the ways central banks are contributing to the greening of the financial system. He gives an insight into their work and progress. And he describes how therir activities fit within the broader context of international developments in this area.
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ING announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (DPPS) relating to previously disclosed investigations regarding various requirements for client on-boarding and the prevention of money laundering and corrupt practices. Under the terms of the agreement ING has agreed to pay a fine of €675 million and €100 million for disgorgement.
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In a case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), five individuals have been sentenced to a total of 17.5 years’ imprisonment for their roles in a share fraud carried out through a series of boiler room companies which led to the loss of more than £2.8m of investors’ money. The sentencing of five defendants was concluded today at Southwark Crown Court. The sixth defendant, Michael Nascimento (DOB 28th June 1977), will be sentenced on the 14th September 2018. He was the controlling mind, instigator and the main beneficiary of the fraud.
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In his speech, Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the European Central Bank (ECB), reviews the economic developments in the euro area, explains the recent monetary policy decisions of the ECB and reflect on the necessary reforms of Economic and Monetary Union, or EMU: Economic growth in the euro area remains solid and broad-based, as confirmed by the latest data. Preliminary figures show that real GDP grew by 0.4% quarter-on-quarter during the second quarter of 2018. In the first half of 2018, growth weakened from its very high rates of last year, partly reflecting lower exports, compounded by temporary supply-side constraints at national and global level.
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 An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team, led by Björn Rother, visited Tunisia to discuss the authorities’ policy plans under the Fourth Review of Tunisia’s economic reform program supported by a four-year IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement. At the end of the visit, Mr. Rother issued the following statement: “The Tunisian authorities and the IMF team reached a staff-level agreement on the policies needed to complete the fourth review of Tunisia’s EFF. The Tunisian authorities emphasized their intention to continue to act decisively to contain the budget deficit, which would allow the IMF’s Executive Board to consider the Fourth Review at the end of September. Completion of the review would make available SDR 177 million (about US$257 million), bringing total disbursements under the EFF to about US$1.5 billion.
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In light of the difficulties faced by European farmers affected by drought this summer, the European Commission continues acting to provide practical support to the sector. Additional flexibility will be granted to help farmers provide sufficient feed to their animals. The European Commission presented today an additional package of actions aimed at increasing the availability of fodder resources for livestock, one of the main challenges faced by farmers dealing with the impact of drought. This package complements the measures already announced early August.
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by Michel Klompmaker
We recently had an interview in Brussels with Aurélien Slodzian, CEO and Peter Buelens, president of the Board and both co-founders of OPEX Alliance. OPEX Alliance is a Brussels-based start-up that developed a cloud-based software platform through which companies and service-organizations can identify how well – or how badly – they manage the levers to become ‘operational excellent’ (OPEX). In addition, the platform enables users to evaluate in this way, every organizational unit, compare their scores, monitor progress and assign and follow-up initiatives for improvement. The method can be used by every type of organization, regardless of its size.
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