The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a discussion paper on transforming culture in financial services which presents views from academics and industry thought leaders. The paper is intended to provide a basis for stimulating further debate on transforming culture in the sector. The paper is a set of essays that discuss what a good culture might look like, the role of regulation and regulators, how firms might go beyond incentives, and how to change behaviour for the better.

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 The European Banking Authority (EBA) published an Opinion following the notification by the French High Council for Financial Stability (HCSF) of its intention to tighten the large-exposure limits applicable to large and highly indebted non-financial corporations (NFCs) resident in France or groups of connected NFCs assessed to be highly indebted and based in France. Based on the evidence submitted, the EBA does not object to the adoption of the proposed measure, which the HCSF intends to apply only to global or other systemically important institutions (G-SIIs and O-SIIs) with the aim of accounting for changes in the intensity of macroprudential/systemic risk that could pose a threat to financial stability in France.
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched a call for expression of interest for membership to its Banking Stakeholder Group (BSG), as the mandate for the majority of its members will expire on 14 October 2018. The call for expression of interest is open to candidates representing stakeholders across the European Union. The deadline for application is 7 June 2018.

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Central banks must carefully weigh the implications for financial stability and monetary policy of issuing digital currencies available to the general public, according to a report from the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the Markets Committee, although the underlying technologies might hold more promise for wholesale payments, clearing and settlements.

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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published the final version of its Supplementary Guidance to the FSB Principles and Standards on Sound Compensation Practices following a public consultation launched in June 2017. The guidance has been developed in collaboration with other standard-setting bodies. It supplements the FSB’s Principles and Standards.1 on compensation at significant financial institutions, published in 2009, which note that compensation should be adjusted for all types of risk. The guidance provides firms and supervisors with a framework to consider how compensation practices and tools, such as in-year bonus adjustments, malus or clawback, can be used to reduce misconduct risk and address misconduct incidents.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned the former Chair of Co-operative Bank PLC (Co-op Bank), Paul Flowers, from the financial services industry. Mr Flowers was Chair of Co-op Bank between 15 April 2010 and 5 June 2013. The FCA found that Mr Flowers’ conduct demonstrated a lack of fitness and propriety required to work in financial services.
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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) welcome the Correspondent Banking Due Diligence Questionnaire recently published by the Wolfsberg Group, as one of the industry initiatives that will help to address the decline in the number of correspondent banking relationships by facilitating due diligence processes.

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The Basel Committee published the results of its latest Basel III monitoring exercise based on data as of 30 June 2017. The Committee established a rigorous reporting process to regularly review the implications of the Basel III standards for banks, and it has published the results of previous exercises since 2012. The Committee’s finalisation of the Basel III reforms is not yet reflected in the results; the collection of relevant data for those reforms started for the end-2017 reporting date.

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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Guillaume Adolph £180,000 and banned him from performing any function in relation to any regulated financial activity. Mr Adolph formerly worked at Deutsche Bank as a short-term interest rate derivatives trader, trading products referenced to CHF (Swiss Franc) and JPY (Japanese Yen) LIBOR. For a period of time, Mr Adolph acted as the primary JPY LIBOR submitter for Deutsche.

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In recent years, the financial industry has seen fast-growing adoption of financial technology, or fintech. Banks and venture capital funds have made sizeable investments in fintech, reflecting their expectations for substantial change in the industry. Against this backdrop, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) has set up a task force to provide insight into this development and, more specifically, to explore the implications for banks and bank supervisors.

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