With six months to go before the Consumer Duty comes into force, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published a review of how firms are planning to implement the Duty. The FCA reviewed a sample of implementation plans and found that many firms show they understand and embrace the shift to delivering good customer outcomes, which the Duty will bring, and have established extensive programmes of work to comply with it properly. However, the FCA also found that some firms are further behind in their planning, so there is a risk that they may struggle to apply the Duty effectively once the rules come into force.   Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has on 16 February published a report on the financial stability risks of Decentralised Finance (DeFi). DeFi is commonly used to describe services in crypto-asset markets that aim to replicate some functions of the traditional financial system in a supposedly decentralised manner – though the actual level of decentralisation varies widely. The report, which was delivered to the February G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting, concludes that while the processes to provide services are in many cases novel, DeFi does not differ substantially from traditional finance in the functions it performs or the vulnerabilities to which it is exposed. Continue reading…

On 8 September 2022 the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided to temporarily remove the 0% interest rate ceiling for the remuneration of government deposits held with the Eurosystem, setting the ceiling for such remuneration at the deposit facility rate or the €STR, whichever was lower, until 30 April 2023. The Governing Council has now decided to adjust the ceiling for the remuneration of such deposits as of 1 May 2023, in order to provide incentives for a gradual and orderly reduction of those holdings, thereby minimising the risk of adverse effects on market functioning and ensuring the smooth transmission of monetary policy. This decision also alters the remuneration of deposits held under the ERMS framework. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has used its powers to enter and inspect several sites around Leeds suspected of hosting illegally operated crypto ATMs. The FCA gathered evidence from several sites around the city as part of a joint operation with West Yorkshire Police’s Digital Intelligence and Investigation Unit. Mark Steward, Executive Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight at the FCA, said: “Unregistered Crypto ATMs operating in the UK are doing so illegally. We will continue to identify and disrupt unregistered crypto businesses operating in the UK. Crypto businesses operating in the UK need to be registered with the FCA for anti-money laundering purposes. However, crypto products themselves are currently unregulated and high-risk, and you should be prepared to lose all your money if you invest in them.”

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Ursula von der Leyen : “For almost one year now, Russia’s war of aggression has been sowing death and destruction. Putin is not only waging a brutal war on the battlefield but he is also viciously targeting civilians. The aggressor has to pay for this. Today, we are turning up the pressure with a 10th package of sanctions. First, we propose further export bans worth more than €11 billion, to deprive the Russian economy of critical technology and industrial goods. For maximum impact, we are targeting many industrial goods that Russia needs, and that it cannot get through backfilling by third countries. Vital goods such as electronics, specialized vehicles, machine parts, spare parts for trucks and jet engines. And we are targeting goods for the construction sector which can be directed to Russia’s military, such as antennas or cranes.
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by Eva Skornicka

Despite their reputation, gaming companies have to follow regulations that are stricter than nearly any other industry, and it’s up to programmers to ensure compliance. Most companies think of compliance and IT as completely separate departments within their companies, whose members only meet when a laptop crashes or when there’s a birthday party for Melody from HR. But the reality is that IT — especially IT development — has to work hand in hand with compliance in order for a company to be fully compliant in many cases.  Continue reading…

by Klaas Knot

I will attempt to walk you through the evolution of our inflation problem and the implications this carries for ECB policy in the next few months. As you all know by now, the decade of below-target inflation swiftly came to an end in the course of 2021. Our economies rebounded from the pandemic with households disbursing their growing deposit balances, but also with supply still severely constrained after a long period of pandemic contagion measures. Headline inflation approached an unprecedented 5% already in 2021. The unconscionable war in Ukraine, and the associated pressures in energy and food supply then pushed headline inflation into unprecedented double-digit territory in October and November last year, and to 8.4% for 2022 overall. The ECB has – with its tightening policy measures – mostly been leaning against the re-opening demand factors that first brought up inflation, while also guarding against a broadening of inflation after the second upward push by the energy supply shocks. As the latest figures show, headline inflation indeed appears to have peaked, and is gradually coming down, largely thanks to rapidly falling energy prices.
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by Ahsan Habib

Almost all major crimes ultimately lead to money laundering. Human trafficking, tax evasion, Ponzi schemes, kleptocracy/political corruption, drug/weapon/organ smuggling, green crimes, terrorist resourcing and what not. These offences have a name in common i.e. Predicate Offences. Twenty two predicate offences have already been identified by the European Union, and there may be more to come as wrongdoers have always been innovative. Corruption is the five-alarm fire raging in almost all jurisdictions. This offence has always existed but never has it been this out of control. Continue reading…

The European Commission has approved unconditionally, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation of a joint venture by Deutsche Telekom AG Orange SA, Telefónica S.A. and Vodafone Group plc. The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). The joint venture will offer a platform to support brands and publishers’ digital marketing and advertising activities in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Subject to the user’s consent, the joint venture will generate a unique digital code derived from the user’s mobile or fixed network subscription. Such code will allow brands and publishers to recognize users on their websites or applications on a pseudonymous basis, group them under different categories and tailor their content to specific users’ groups.
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by Mark Worth

When doctors at Vilnius City Clinical Hospital demanded bribes of up to €400 from patients in order to receive medical care, one patient stood up and said no. Out of the person’s civic duty, the hospital’s director and four doctors are under investigation, and more than €70,000 in fines have been imposed. As a way of showing gratitude, Lithuanian officials gave the whistleblower a monetary reward. The reward was one of 57 that Lithuania’s Special Investigation Service (STT) paid to corruption witnesses in 2022, the highest being €2,500. Rewards totalled €40,000 last year, nearly double the €22,000 the STT paid to 31 whistleblowers the year before. Continue reading…