by Ken van Ierlant

Technological developments move so quickly that you can’t keep up with the requisite investments. Companies can build a complete in-house IT environment, but if they do they run the risk that it will be outdated before it even becomes operational. Moreover, these efforts distract from the core activities and core competencies of your business. It is much easier to purchase your IT landscape in the form of services.
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Banks have clearer guidance on how to best manage risks related to money laundering and the financing of terrorism under final revisions issued today by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The revisions pertain to Annexes 2 (“Correspondent banking”) and 4 (“General guide to account opening”) of the guidelines on the Basel Committee’s Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism.
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The Governors of the Global Economy Meeting welcome the publication of the FX Global Code, a single global code for the wholesale foreign exchange market, as well as the establishment of the Global Foreign Exchange Committee to maintain the Code in the future. Continue reading…

by Vincent Wellens & Jad Nader

On 17 May 2017, the Luxembourg financial sector regulator (CSSF) published four circulars in order to streamline its regulation on (IT) outsourcing in the financial sector, and to introduce specific rules for the use of cloud services. Through these circulars, the CSSF defines the conditions under which financial service providers may outsource activities, IT-related activities in particular without infringing the regulatory principles of central administration and sound governance. These circulars complement the imminent legislative changes which will foresee in an explicit legal exemption from the professional secrecy obligation in the financial sector as far as outsourcing is concerned.
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by Jeremy Lehman

“I like Uber because it’s so easy. Really, anything informative and elegant.” “To be honest, it probably sounds stupid-Amazon-they have a million products, and I can get what I want in 10 seconds.” “It’s such a cliché, but Apple because I use them for everything, even news now. I’m constantly on their devices. I’m holding their phone right now.” Several consumers shared the brands or businesses that best engage them digitally in a casual survey. Sophisticated consumers almost apologized for citing big, predictable names in content streaming, ecommerce, and ride sharing. These companies-all digital natives-are defining consumer expectations.
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Criminals will find it more difficult to launder money through the UK thanks to a new government crackdown. The Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, (see photo) has unveiled plans to create a new watchdog that will tackle potential weaknesses in the supervisory system that criminals and terrorists may be trying to exploit. The new Office for Professional Body Anti-Money Laundering Supervision (OPBAS) will help improve the overall standards of supervision and ensure supervisors and law enforcement work together more effectively.
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Ken van Ierlant

Information technology is just a utility—like water or electricity. We’d all like that statement to be true. When we want to connect to the Internet, we want it to be there—instantly. And most of the time, it is. For the most common applications—e-mail or Web browsing—the Internet can be turned on or off. We can get e-mail on our computers. We can get e-mail on our mobile phones. We can get e-mail from kiosks in airports. We can use the campus e-mail system or gmail. But thinking about IT as a utility is misleading. Thirty years ago, e-mail was an exotic application available only to scientists with access to ARPANET. IT has come a long way since then—just like utilities.
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published its Mission, which gives firms and consumers greater clarity about how the FCA prioritises its interventions in financial markets.  Alongside the Mission, the FCA has published its Business Plan for 2017/18 and Fees consultation. For the first time, the FCA has also published its Sector Views, which highlight the issues and developments the FCA sees in the sectors it regulates. Together, these documents provide greater clarity about how the FCA operates and more transparency about the way it makes decisions. Continue reading…

In a new forecast Nordea expects the global economy to grow by 3.5 per cent this year and 3.7 per cent in 2018 after 3.1 per cent in 2016. This is slightly higher than the winter forecast from December. The more benign forecast stems from an upgrade of the outlook for the advanced economies amid the increasing political uncertainties surrounding the business environment including the upcoming French elections, the Brexit negotiations and doubts about Donald Trump’s economic policy, says Nordea’s Group Chief Economist, Helge J. Pedersen.
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published near final rules on the implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II. These include changes to the trading of financial instruments including issues affecting trading venues, transparency of trading and algorithmic and high frequency trading. The FCA is also providing an update on the taping of telephone conversations by retail financial advisers.
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