by Andrew Bailey

When I look at the issues on the agenda of the FCA with its objective from Parliament to ensure that relevant markets function well, I think that pensions and long-term retirement savings are probably top of the list in terms of their importance to our society. But, of course, only part of what is a very broad issue falls under our responsibility because there are many other aspects of economic and social policy in which the issue falls, and that demands joined up thinking and approaches.
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The Basel Committee today published the results of its latest Basel III monitoring exercise. 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. Data have been provided for a total of 228 banks, comprising 100 large internationally active banks (“Group 1 banks”, defined as internationally active banks that have Tier 1 capital of more than €3 billion) and 128 “Group 2 banks” (ie representative of all other banks).
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In this merger, ISDC will become part of British IT service company the Endava group, which gives the company a total combined headcount approaching 3,300 IT professionals, across offices in the UK, Netherlands, Germany and the USA, and delivery centres in Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Moldova, Bulgaria and Colombia. Continue reading…

A lot of uncertainty and little by way of facts. Brexit poses big challenges – but also big opportunities – for risk managers. Airmic members talk to Jessica Titherington about Brexit and what it means for them. “It feels like we’re in the eye of a storm at the moment,” says Karla Cruickshanks, risk and business continuity manager at law firm DLA Piper. “There was a huge build up to the vote and a lot of activity immediately after the results, and now it’s gone quiet. Everyone is waiting.” And here in lies the problem facing risk managers: Brexit is a huge concern for UK companies but there are very few hard facts amid the noise. Knowing how to tackle it is extremely difficult.
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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the Second Phase of the G20 Data Gaps Initiative (DGI-2): First Progress Report. The progress report updates on work by participating countries and international organisations to address post-crisis data gaps and presents the action plans for each of the recommendations agreed for further work.
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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has today published a report for the G20 Leaders at their Summit in Hangzhou on 4-5 September. The report is an update on the implementation of Basel III regulatory reforms since the Committee’s progress report to G20 Leaders in November 2015.  Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) recently published two reports on the implementation of key aspects of reforms to the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market. They show that although progress continues to be made, further action is required, particularly on implementing margin requirements and platform trading commitments, and on removing legal barriers to trade reporting and authorities’ access to data held by trade repositories.
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Nordea Bank AB (“Nordea”) has announced that it has entered into a synthetic risk transfer trade related to EUR 8.4bn of Nordea’s loan portfolio. Under the transaction, investors have agreed to invest in notes linked to the junior credit risk of the portfolio. Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published today its peer review of India. The peer review examined two topics relevant for financial stability and important for India: the macroprudential policy framework, and the regulation and supervision of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and housing finance companies (HFCs). The review focused on the steps taken by the authorities to implement reforms in these areas, including with respect to the recommendations in the 2012 Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
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The revisions to the disclosure requirements address shortcomings in Pillar 3 of the Basel framework. The revised disclosure requirements will enable market participants to better compare banks’ disclosures of risk-weighted assets. They form part of the Committee’s broader agenda to reform regulatory standards for banks in response to the global financial crisis. The revisions notably focus on improving the transparency of the internal model-based approaches that banks use to calculate minimum regulatory capital requirements.
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