The European Banking Authority (EBA) has recently issued new Guidelines on the so-called ‘travel rule’, i.e. the information that should accompany transfers of funds and certain crypto assets. This rule will help tackle the abuse of  such transfers for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes. The Guidelines specify which information should accompany a transfer of funds or crypto assets and also list the steps that payment service providers (PSPs), intermediary PSPs (IPSPs), crypto-asset service providers (CASPs) and intermediary CASPs (ICASPs) should take to detect missing or incomplete information, and what they should do if a transfer of funds or a transfer of crypto-assets lacks the required information. Continue reading…

Marking a historic moment, one year ago today, Eurojust launched the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression (ICPA) – a unique judicial coordination platform dedicated to supporting national investigations into the crime of aggression related to the war in Ukraine. Since its launch in July 2023, the ICPA has made significant progress in building a common investigative and prosecutorial strategy for cases on the crime of aggression. ICPA participants have selected relevant evidence to focus on, and have coordinated and strengthened ongoing investigative efforts at national level.

Continue reading…

by Olaf Sleijpen

Our world is currently threatened by increasing fragmentation, both political and economic. This makes it increasingly difficult to foresee all shocks, and so, it has brought new challenges to the community of macroprudential experts,’ concluded Olaf Sleijpen in his opening speech at the 8th Annual Macroprudential Conference, organised by the Bundesbank, the Sveriges Riksbank and De Nederlandsche Bank. I would like to share latest on a number of macroprudential topics, but also to talk about that one thing that’s on every central banker’s mind… money. Now, I don’t want to talk about some abstract notion of money today. No, I’d like to talk about a very particular coin. And that’s the Reichsthaler in German, the riksdaler in Swedish, and the rijksdaalder in Dutch. Continue reading…

The European Central Bank (ECB) has on 24 June published its first progress report on the digital euro preparation phase, which was launched on 1 November 2023 with the aim of laying the foundations for the potential issuance of a digital euro. The report outlines the progress made on key digital euro design aspects and the envisaged next steps for the project. Continue reading…

by Hans Timmerman

The information balance between governments/organizations and their citizens/customers has become increasingly skewed over the past decades. Political motives and resulting legislation compel executing organizations to collect excessive amounts of data about their citizens or customers. Meanwhile, privacy laws simultaneously restrict how they can use this collected data. Without explicit consent from the citizen or customer, the use of this data is minimal. This leads to significant excesses and/or inefficiencies, as seen in the benefits scandal and now with the implementation of the Wwft (the law to prevent money laundering and the financing of terrorism). In both cases, the political efforts to prevent fraud and terrorism have gone so far that executing organizations are effectively forced to trample basic human rights. That this leads to mishaps and excesses is understandable. How can we restore this balance? Continue reading…

TrustQuay Viewpoint, a global SaaS provider to the Wealth, Trust and Corporate services (TCSP) industry has rebranded to Quantios, as the business sets out its mission to lead digital transformation in the sector. This rebrand, following the merger between TrustQuay and Viewpoint in May 2023, is the final step in the consolidation of the two companies and marks a new beginning, solidifying Quantios as a global player. Drawing on the heritage and expertise of TrustQuay and Viewpoint, Quantios aims to accelerate technology innovation in the TCSP sector. Continue reading…

The Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), the oversight body of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, met recently. The GHOS took stock of the implementation status of the outstanding Basel III reforms, which were finalised in 2017. Members have continued to make good progress with implementation. Around two thirds of member jurisdictions will have implemented all, or the majority, of the standards by this year, with the remaining jurisdictions planning on doing so by next year. Continue reading…

by Oli Rehn

As Governor of the Bank of Finland, I am glad to see so many of you here in Helsinki. It is a great privilege to share my thoughts with you today. First and foremost, we have made significant progress in disinflation since our last rate hike in September 2023. Inflation has fallen by more than 2.5 percentage points, and the inflation outlook has improved markedly. Barring further setbacks, for instance in the geopolitical situation and energy prices, or in wage developments for that matter, inflation is projected to converge to our 2% target in the medium term. Euro area economic activity is showing increasing signs of recovery, and the labour market has remained robust. The growth outlook was revised upwards yesterday, which is obviously good news. Continue reading…

The FCA, working with the Metropolitan Police Service, has conducted an operation to arrest two individuals, aged 38 and 44, suspected of running an illegal cryptoasset exchange. More than £1 billion of unregistered cryptoassets are believed to have been bought and sold through this business. The FCA inspected the offices associated with the suspects and the police seized several digital devices during searches of two residential London properties.

Continue reading…