by Mark Worth

Ten years ago the European Commission tersely said the idea of EU-wide whistleblower rules was out of the question. Today, the Commission is helping to lead the charge for stronger rights for people who report corruption. For evidence of this sharp turnaround, one need look no further than the Commission’s decision to escalate its infringement action against four EU countries that are tardy in passing whistleblower protection laws. On 29 September the Commission warned Austria, Belgium, Romania and Slovenia that they are “failing to fulfil their obligations” to comply with new rules. Continue reading…

The Commission has on 26 October adopted a legislative proposal to make instant payments in euro, available to all citizens and businesses holding a bank account in the EU and in EEA countries. The proposal aims to ensure that instant payments in euro are affordable, secure, and processed without hindrance across the EU. Instant payments allow people to transfer money at any time of any day within ten seconds. This is much faster compared to traditional credit transfers, which are received by payment service providers only during business hours and arrive at the payee’s account only by the following business day, which could take up to three calendar days. Instant payments significantly increase speed and convenience for consumers, for example when paying bills or receiving urgent transfers (e.g. in case of medical emergency). Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) recently published a report on liquidity in core government bond markets. The report forms part of the FSB’s work programme to enhance the resilience of non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI). Changes in core government bond markets over the past decade may have made them more prone to liquidity imbalances in times of stress. The severe dislocations experienced in those markets during the March 2020 turmoil were the outcome of large spikes in the demand for liquidity by various market participants, especially non-banks. Continue reading…

Kwayga, the leading online matching platform for national and international B2B buyers and suppliers within the food and beverage industry, has announced that it will be offering one year free premium membership to its platform to Ukrainian food and beverage suppliers as a way of supporting the industry during the ongoing conflict with Russia. The announcement came during the recent webinar hosted by Kwayga called ‘Ukraine is open for business’ and included speakers such as Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Trade Representative at the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, Larysa Gerasko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Ireland and Mariia Dehtiarova, Export Promotion Manager at U-Food Association, whose mission it is to develop and promote Ukrainian food worldwide. Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published a proposed framework for the international regulation of crypto-asset activities. The core components of this framework are proposals for: recommendations that promote the consistency and comprehensiveness of regulatory, supervisory and oversight approaches to crypto-asset activities and markets and strengthen international cooperation, coordination and information sharing; and revised high-level recommendations for the regulation, supervision, and oversight of “global stablecoin” arrangements to address associated financial stability risks more effectively. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found 7.8 million people are finding it a heavy burden to keep up with their bills, an increase of around 2.5 million people since 2020. The FCA has published a snapshot of the latest edition of its landmark Financial Lives survey, which was carried out between February and June 2022. One in four UK adults are in financial difficulty or could quickly find themselves in difficulty if they suffered a financial shock, and 4.2 million people have missed bills or loan payments in at least three of the six months before the survey took place.   Continue reading…

Almost 3 000 cross-border money laundering cases have been registered at Eurojust during the past six years. Since 2016, the number of cases brought to the Agency has been steadily rising. Over 600 cases were brought to the Agency in 2021, representing more than double of those registered in 2016.These are some of the findings of Eurojust’s first comprehensive report on money laundering, published on 20 October. Due to its clandestine nature, the global scale of money laundering is difficult to measure, but it is considered to be significant. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates that between 2 and 5% of global GDP – up to 1.87 trillion Euros – is laundered each year. This reflects Eurojust’s case statistics that show that money laundering cases accounted for almost 15% of all cases registered at the Agency between 2016 and 2021. Continue reading…

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined Gatehouse Bank Plc £1,584,100 for significant weakness in its financial crime systems and controls. Between June 2014 and July 2017 Gatehouse failed to conduct sufficient checks on its customers based in countries with a higher risk of money laundering and terrorist financing. Gatehouse also failed to undertake the correct checks when some of the customers were classed as Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). Continue reading…

Supported by Eurojust and Europol, French authorities, in collaboration with Latvia and Spain, have taken action against an organised crime group (OCG) that used fraudulent software to duplicate keys and steal cars in France. In a coordinated action carried out in the three countries involved, thirty one suspects were arrested and twenty-two locations were searched. The suspects allegedly produced and used fraudulent software to steal vehicles by duplicating the vehicles’ ignition keys. Marketed as an automotive diagnostic solution, the tool was able to replace the original software of the targeted vehicles without respecting the protocol and without the original key. Continue reading…