The Swiss National Bank recently scrapped its CHF/EUR currency peg in an unexpected move that roiled financial markets. Here, we explain what may have been behind the move and its implications. What did the Swiss National Bank do and what was the reaction in the financial markets ? The SNB abandoned the CHF’s exchange rate peg against the EUR, which had been set at EUR1.20 since September 2011. The CHF rallied sharply in response to the move, gaining as much as 40 per cent against the EUR at one point, and hitting its highest level against the USD in three years. Such volatility is extremely rare in G-10 currencies. Continue reading…

Today, the ECB announced the so-called asset purchase programme. Mario Drgahi, President of ECB: “ Based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we conducted a thorough reassessment of the outlook for price developments and of the monetary stimulus achieved. As a result, the Governing Council took the following decisions:
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Delta Lloyd NV recently announced the sale of its German life business to Athene Holding Ltd. (“Athene”). Athene is a Bermuda-based insurance holding company and, through its subsidiaries, is a leading provider of products in the retirement savings market in the USA. In 2010, Delta Lloyd’s German life business stopped selling new business and has since been in run-off.

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Recently the German newspaper Handelsblatt had an interesting interview with Mario Draghi, President of the ECB about the future of Europe.

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Last December the Council formally appointed the Chair, the Vice-Chair and the four other permanent members of the Single Resolution Board. This concludes a recruitment process which started in July 2014. The methodology for calculating banks’ contributions to the Single Resolution Fund was also been adopted. Continue reading…

The euro entered circulation in Lithuania today, bringing the number of European Union (EU) Member States using the single European currency to 19. “On behalf of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, I welcome this further enlargement of the euro area. Lithuania has taken exceptional measures in difficult times to reach its goal of joining the single currency,” Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, said.

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The Basel Committee is considering replacing references to external ratings, as used in the current standardised approach, with a limited number of risk drivers that provide a meaningful differentiation for risk. These alternative risk drivers vary based on the particular type of exposure and have been selected on the basis that they are simple, intuitive, readily available and capable of explaining risk across jurisdictions. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has released recently a consultative document on Revisions to the Standardised Approach for credit risk.

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Alternative payments are the most active and complex ecosystem in financial services today. A quick look at AngelList recently showed a bewildering 1,477 payments startups. These include many familiar names like Square (m-POS) and The Currency Cloud (international payments) to newer entrants such as Coin Drive (stored value exchange), OpenCuro (secure payments), and niche players like LeaguePals (which bills itself as the “PayPal of League Bowling”). 238 of these start-ups are providing various services around cryptocurrencies, including 134 companies focused on Bitcoin. Continue reading…

The Bank of England recently published an independent report by former Federal Reserve Board Governor Kevin Warsh, following his review of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) transparency practices and procedures. The Bank also announced a series of significant transparency, accountability and governance enhancements designed to put the Bank at the forefront of international best practice and enhance its ability to fulfil its mission to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability. Continue reading…