EBF MORNING BRIEF Thursday 2 July 2020 Good morning. Here the top news stories and events in European banking, financial regulation and EU policy, brought to you by the European Banking Federation. Recommend the EBF newsletters to a colleague. Click here to sign up! |
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FROM THE MEDIA PYMNTS: EU awaits launch of payments network challenger this week A group of big European banks is planning to challenge Visaâs and Mastercardâs positions as the worldâs two largest payment processing networks, writes PYMNTS. Dubbed the Pan European Payments Initiative, or EPI, the group has the support of 20 French and German banks, and would handle all forms of cashless transactions. EPI promises to rival not only the two credit card giants, but also other financial technology companies including Google, Apple, Alipay and WeChat Pay. Read more Paypers FT, Reuters: ECB promises banks it will do more in urge to merge The European Central Bank has sought to persuade more of the regionâs lenders to merge by clarifying its approach to takeovers in an effort to reassure executives that such transactions will be encouraged, reports the FT. The ECB published a guide to how it would handle banking deals in three key areas, all of which it believes may have been perceived in the past as hurdles to lenders considering a merger. Read more (âŹ) Reuters IrishTimes Bloomberg: Lagarde warns of rocky recovery European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde renewed her warning of a difficult road ahead even as an economic recovery following months of coronavirus shutdowns starts to take hold, reports Bloomberg. âThe worst is behind us and the hardest is yet to come,â Lagarde said in a video message for a United Nations event on Wednesday. The recovery is going to be âas uncertain and as uneven as the shock was decisive and across the board.â Read more Reuters: U.S. Fed caps dividend payments on largest banks The Federal Reserve last week said it would cap third-quarter dividend payments by some of the largest U.S. banks, writes Reuters in an analysis. The Fed also released the results of its annual stress testing exercise, which included a âsensitivity analysisâ of the impact COVID-19 and the resiliency with which banks could maintain adequate capital buffers given mounting loan losses. Read more Bloomberg: European exchanges reject shorter trading days Some of the biggest exchanges in Europe are opposing proposals to shorten the equities trading day, undermining a campaign to give traders a better work-life balance, reports Bloomberg. Read more Reuters FT(âŹ) |
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EBF MEMBERS IN THE NEWS Luxembourg: Finance and marketing taught in high school The School of Business and Management opens two new classes on Finance and Marketing for senior classes as of the 2020-2021 academic year. The content has been developed by the Association of Banks and Bankers of Luxembourg (ABBL) in collaboration with other professional organisations of the sector such as the Association of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies (Aca), the Luxembourg Association of Investment Funds (Alfi) and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). Read more (FR) Croatia: Online shopping and the protection systems used by the cards In an article published in the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji, the Croatian Banking Association explains how banks protect customers from credit card fraud. Banks today use statistical methods and special software to quickly detect credit card fraud - constantly monitoring their customers' costs and collecting data on each transaction. Read more (HR) UK: Changing the name of the game: Confirmation of Payee Confirmation of Payee is a new feature that helps with the vital effort to prevent fraud. Austin Elwood, Manager, Payments Policy, from UK Finance discusses why this tool is so important. Read more Czech Republic: CBA Housing Financing Statistics for May 2020 The May 2020 Czech Banking Association (CBA) Housing Financing Statistics show new mortgage loans for housing from banks and building societies reached a total volume of 14.8 billion CZK in May. This is 5% less than in April this year, but 3% more than in May 2019. Read more (CE) |
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FROM THE EBF Laying the puzzle to collectively to keep dirty money out of the system In an interview with EBF CEO Wim Mijs with the Dutch Compliance Institute it is revealed how the public and private sector are stepping up the fight against money laundering following EBFâs report Lifting the Spell of Dirty Money. It is also noted how the compliance profession has evolved and how the human factor is playing a more important role to catch criminal activity. Read more |
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Encouraging and rewarding sustainability The EBF report on accelerating sustainable finance in the banking sector At the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25), EBF presented the Encouraging and rewarding sustainability report. The report outlines a number of concrete proposals to stimulate and contribute to the debate of the European institutions, regulators and banks on how to scale up sustainable activities, mobilise and redirect private financial flows to support such activities, develop new instruments and increase the number of eligible projects and help capital markets developments. |
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FROM THE INSTITUTIONS ECB: Two steps forward, one step back We think itâs going to take a long time for output to fully recover, says ECB Chief Economist Philip R. Lane. The persistent interruption of normal economic life, the effect of lockdown measures and the associated nervousness of households and firms will all have an impact. Read more Commission: Financing recovery must not burden the next generation Ahead of the start of the German Council Presidency and of the 17 July European Council, Budgets Committee Chair Van Overtveldt set out Parliamentâs position on the long-term EU budget. During his press conference, Van Overtveldt (ECR, BE), said: âFor the recovery strategy and the next long-term budget to come into being, it will require 27 member states to be on board, strong leadership and brokering from the EU Commission and, last but not least, the European Parliamentâs full engagement.â Read more EBA: Final Guidelines on the treatment of structural FX positions The European Banking Authority published its final Guidelines on the treatment of structural FX positions. The aim of these Guidelines is to establish a harmonised framework for the application of the structural FX waiver, which will allow its consistent application going forward. Read more BIS: Annual Economic Report 2020 At the Annual General Meeting, the BIS released its Annual Economic Report and its Annual Report. The reports offer BIS's main economic review of the year and present commentary on the global economy and outline policy challenges. Read more |
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The European Banking Federation and fTLD Registry Services (fTLD) are partnering to educate the European banking sector about the cybersecurity role .BANK plays in protecting banks against Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams, phishing and spoofing attacks that lead to breaches, identity theft and financial fraud. fTLD administers the .BANK domain and the EBF has served on its Advisory Council since 2013. To learn more about the security benefits of .BANK, visit https://www.register.bank/ebf/ or contact fTLD at EBF@fTLD.com. |
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ABOUT THE EUROPEAN BANKING FEDERATION The European Banking Federation is the voice of the European banking sector, bringing together national banking associations. The EBF is committed to a thriving European economy that is underpinned by a stable, secure and inclusive financial ecosystem, and to a flourishing society where financing is available to fund the dreams of citizens, businesses and innovators everywhere. |
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This newsletter is published by the EBF Mediacentre. For questions or suggestions contact mediacentre@ebf.eu Recommend the EBF newsletters to a colleague. Click here to sign up! European Banking Federation Avenue des Arts 56, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium |
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