The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has recently issued a Public Statement on the prospectus disclosure and investor protection issues raised by special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). The statement, in view of both the complexity and the diversity of SPAC transactions, sets out ESMA’s expectations on how issuers should satisfy the specific disclosure requirements of the Prospectus Regulation to enhance the comprehensibility and comparability of SPAC prospectuses. Continue reading…

Swift and forceful action from central banks and governments has limited the economic damage from the Covid-19 pandemic, and as policymakers look ahead to the next phase of the recovery they must prepare for different but no less formidable challenges, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said in its Annual Economic Report 2021.  In its flagship economic publication, the BIS describes the global recovery so far as incomplete and uneven, with some countries and sectors bouncing back quickly and others lagging. The uneven recovery could generate headwinds for emerging market economies (EMEs) in particular, due to tighter financial conditions as advanced economies transition more quickly. Continue reading…

The SOMI Foundation submits the largest European collective data request recently to three tech giants: TikTok, Zoom and Palantir. According to the GDPR, companies are obliged to comply with the request for stored personal data. SOMI requests the personal data on behalf of its participants as part of the investigation into the possible violation of the GDPR by the international companies. The GDPR prescribes that companies that are active in Europe are obliged to provide access to stored personal data on request. In addition, it must be clearly stated how the personal data is stored and with whom it is shared. However, it is often not clear how such a request should be submitted to the company, if the option is offered at all. There is also no explicit way of supplying the stored personal data, which makes it difficult for consumers to understand which data is stored and used, and how it can be modified or deleted. Continue reading…

How many insurers were subject to winding-up proceedings since the introduction of Solvency II on 1/1/2016? In part I, we revealed that based on the OJ publications about 20-30 insurers have been subject to winding-up proceedings. But is 23 (or 34) the true story? Would the findings of the second source, the data of the national supervisory authorities, corroborate these revelations? Continue reading…

The Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact the way people live and work, and while progress is being made toward recovery, much uncertainty remains about the outlook for the virus and the evolution of mobility and travel restrictions this year. In light of this, and after consulting widely with our customers and partners, SWIFT has taken a decision to keep Sibos a free, digital-only event for 2021 to ensure the safest and best possible experience for the global Sibos community.

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by Lieve Lowet

It must be the best kept secret in town (apart from EIOPA’s Supervisory Handbook) how many insurers and reinsurers went bankrupt since the introduction of the Solvency II framework directive (SII FD). Trying to piece together the answer on the basic question of  how many insurers went belly up since the introduction of Solvency II on 1/1/2016 proved to be a Sherlock Holmes story. But here is what I found. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) have published an updated assessment of the UK’s access to cash infrastructure, taking into account the impact of coronavirus (Covid-19), alongside new research on consumers who rely on cash. The findings show that most people have reasonable access to cash through a combination of bank, building society, or Post Office branches and ATMs. The FCA and PSR estimate that 95.4% of the UK population are within 2km of a free cash access point and 99.7% are within 5 km. Consumers’ ability to access banking services and cash can be affected when banks and ATM providers make decisions to close branches and cash machines. Continue reading…

The European Commission has presented an ambitious package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU’s anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT) rules. The package also includes the proposal for the creation of a new EU authority to fight money laundering. This package is part of the Commission’s commitment to protect EU citizens and the EU’s financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing. The aim of this package is to improve the detection of suspicious transactions and activities, and to close loopholes used by criminals to launder illicit proceeds or finance terrorist activities through the financial system. As recalled in the EU’s Security Union Strategy for 2020-2025, enhancing the EU’s framework for anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing will also help to protect Europeans from terrorism and organised crime. Continue reading…

The proposals follow the introduction of climate-related disclosure rules for the most prominent listed commercial companies in December 2020 which are aligned with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). In the consultations the FCA is proposing to extend the application of its TCFD-aligned Listing Rule for premium-listed commercial companies to issuers of standard listed equity shares; and to introduce TCFD-aligned disclosure requirements for asset managers, life insurers, and FCA-regulated pension providers, with a focus on the information needs of clients and consumers. Continue reading…

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has recently issued for consultation a proposal for a technical amendment to the Basel Framework. The amendment describes a new process that will be used by the Committee to review the assessment methodology for global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). The Committee assesses the systemic importance of global banks annually using an indicator-based methodology. It plans to replace the existing three-year review cycle of the assessment methodology with a process of ongoing monitoring and review. Continue reading…