The Commission has disbursed a first instalment of €3 billion of the up to €18 billion Macro-financial Assistance+ (MFA+) package for Ukraine. This follows the swift adoption and entry into force of the MFA+ Regulation mid-December 2022, less than two months following the request from the European Council meeting on 20-21 October 2022. What is the MFA+ package and how does it work? With the stable, regular and predictable financial support of up to €18 billion for 2023 under this instrument, Ukraine will be able to keep on paying wages and pensions and maintain essential public services running, such as hospitals, schools, and housing for relocated people. It will also allow Ukraine to ensure macroeconomic stability and restore critical infrastructure destroyed by Russia in its war of aggression, such as energy infrastructure, water systems, transport networks, roads and bridges. Continue reading…

Mr. Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, made an introductory statement at the European and American Chamber of Commerce event, New York City. Digitalisation is far from being new in the financial sector, but tokenisation based on DLTs may be a new turn. In my initial remarks I would like to explain why, at the Banque de France and the ACPR, from the standpoint of our financial stability mandate, we have a strong interest in the development of tokenised finance, and how it impacts the policy tools we use to fulfil our mandate. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Al Rayan Bank PLC (Al Rayan) £4,023,600 for failing to put in place adequate anti-money laundering (AML) controls. Between 1 April 2015 and 30 November 2017, Al Rayan allowed money to pass through the bank and be used within the UK without carrying out appropriate checks. The firm failed to adequately check its customers’ Source of Wealth and Source of Funds when it was required to make sure the money was not connected to financial crime.  The failings were made worse by the lack of proper training provided to staff about how to handle large deposits, which further heightened the risk of money laundering and financial crime.  Al Rayan was aware of these weaknesses and failed to implement effective changes to fix them, despite the FCA raising concerns about the inadequacies of their systems.   Continue reading…

The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) published its 2023-2024 Roadmap. The Roadmap outlines the IAIS’ work programme for the next two years and is guided by the 2020-2024 Strategic Plan. “In the 2023-2024 period, the IAIS will prioritise efforts on key multi-year projects while also responding to the many global issues and trends facing the insurance sector,” said IAIS Executive Committee Chair, Vicky Saporta. Continue reading…

With the active support of Eurojust and Europol, a coordinated action has led to the dismantling of a cryptocurrency fraud network operating from Bulgaria, Cyprus and Serbia. The network operated professionally to set up call centres, which defrauded numerous victims in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Australia and Canada for at least tens of millions of euros. Four call centres and 18 places were searched, and over 250 workplaces were identified in Serbia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Germany. Fourteen persons were arrested in Serbia and one in Germany. Overall, more than 250 persons were interviewed and over 150 computers, various electronic equipment and data back-ups, three cars, two luxury apartments and one million US dollars in cryptocurrencies and 50 000 EUR in cash were seized.  Continue reading…

The Bank has on 12 January completed its sales of the £19.3bn portfolio of temporary holdings of UK government bonds purchased in Autumn 2022 on financial stability grounds. Between 28 September and 14 October, the Bank of England, in line with its financial stability objective, conducted temporary and targeted purchases of index-linked and long-dated conventional UK government bonds (gilts). In total, the Bank purchased £19.3bn of gilts, of which £12.1bn were long-dated conventional gilts and £7.2bn were index-linked gilts. The Bank has now fully sold its £19.3bn portfolio of temporary gilt holdings. This follows yesterday’s reverse enquiry window, and the subsequent bilateral sale of small remaining holdings.   Continue reading…

Economic crime raises serious moral and political concerns, undermines economic, physical, social and psychological well-being, and distorts the well-functioning of competitive markets. Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, the cost-of-living crisis, and other major disruptions have impacted the operation of both traditional forms of economic crime, such as public procurement fraud, and its new forms, such as romance fraud. Understanding this broader socio-economic context alongside the complexity of economic crime requires combining different disciplinary perspectives, being it criminology, law, economics, accountancy, security, business management, computer science, and psychology. Continue reading…

Europol, Eurojust and the European Judicial Network has on 22 December published the 2022 edition of the SIRIUS European Union (EU) Digital Evidence Situation Report. This report includes the results of SIRIUS’ research on experiences of EU Member States’ competent authorities, as well as Online Service Providers (OSPs), with cross-border access to digital evidence in criminal investigations. The report confirms that the need for cross-border digital evidence is on the rise.  Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a progress report on the transition from LIBOR and other benchmarks. The end of 2021 marked a major milestone in the transition away from LIBOR and we are reaching the finishing line of LIBOR transition at end-June 2023. The transition from LIBOR to overnight risk-free rates (RFRs) and efforts made to improve the robustness of interest rate benchmarks have increased market stability and integrity. Most LIBOR settings have now ceased and while certain panel-based US dollar (USD) settings are continuing until end-June 2023, to support the transition of legacy contracts, the market has already shifted new activity away from LIBOR and toward RFRs. Continue reading…