By Abigail Myers-Antiaye, Global Country Compliance Manager at Tungsten Network

As you may know, the Italian government is on the verge of making all B2B e-invoicing mandatory in an attempt to close its VAT gap. This decision could recover billions but also violates several terms of the EU VAT Directive, potentially pushing the EU to shift its policies. In addition, the Italian Government’s initiative could see a domino effect across Europe as other EU members follow suit.

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The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched two consultations on draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying an economic downturn and on a set of Guidelines related to the estimation of loss given default (LGD) appropriate for conditions of an economic downturn. The draft RTS specify the nature, severity and duration of an economic downturn, while the Guidelines focus on the appropriate estimation of the LGD in a situation of economic downturn. This package is part of the EBA’s broader work on the review of the IRB approach aiming at reducing the unjustified variability in the outcomes of internal models, while preserving the risk sensitivity of capital requirements. The consultations run until 22 June 2018.
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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued the Capital treatment for simple, transparent and comparable short-term securitisations. This standard supplements the Criteria for identifying simple, transparent and comparable short-term securitisations issued jointly with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is consulting on new guidance outlining factors financial services firms should consider under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA) when drafting and reviewing variation terms in their consumer contracts. The CRA implements Council Directive 93/13/ECC on unfair terms in consumer contracts (the Directive).  
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In her speech, Anneli Tuominen, Director General of Finland’s Financial Supervisory Authority and member of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, talks about the role national supervisors play in the European system, Nordea’s move to join the banks supervised by the ECB and tighter rules for mortgage loans in Finland. The largest Nordic bank, Nordea, recently decided to relocate its headquarters from Stockholm to Helsinki to be supervised under the umbrella of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). What does this mean for the SSM?
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The dispersion of prices between Member States of the European Union (EU) is a popular indicator of the economic integration of the internal market. Car prices in the EU converged from the 1990s until the year 2003, after which this development ceased. The remaining price dispersion between countries is systematically linked to product features, reflecting manufacturer pricing-to-market.

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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued the Capital treatment for simple, transparent and comparable short-term securitisations. This standard supplements the Criteria for identifying simple, transparent and comparable short-term securitisations issued jointly with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
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Vaibhav Sharma

Unisys studies show that the average cost to acquire and set up a customer account at a branch is $350. Setting up the same account online reduces the cost to $140. Because of numbers like this, you may have already taken the vital first step of developing an omnichannel strategy. If so, you’re ahead of the pack – but to stay in the lead, you have to implement that strategy effectively. That can be quite a challenge. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have together fined Mr James Staley, Chief Executive of Barclays Group (Barclays), a total of £642,430. Mr Staley failed to act with due skill, care and diligence in the way he acted in response to an anonymous letter received by Barclays in June 2016. Barclays is also now subject to special requirements by which it must report annually to the regulators detailing how it handles whistleblowing, with personal attestations required from those Senior Managers responsible for the relevant systems and controls.
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