FROM THE MEDIA

Bloomberg: Europe’s banks are no longer as afraid of economic meltdown

European banks are joining U.S. peers in saying the pandemic won’t wreak as much havoc in their balance sheets as feared. Almost all big European lenders to report first-quarter earnings so far have bolstered profit by stashing less money for doubtful loans than last year or by freeing up reserves. Deutsche Bank AG, Banco Santander SA and Lloyds Banking Group Plc are among the firms to argue that rosier economic prospects justify such moves, Nicholas Comfort from Bloomberg reports. Read more

 
Reuters: The great exit: central banks line up to taper emergency stimulus

The Bank of Canada set the taper ball rolling last week, becoming the first major central bank to cut back on pandemic-era money-printing stimulus programmes. So who’s next? The big guns of central banking - the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan - won't officially pare stimulus for a while, a message the BOJ reinforced on Tuesday and one the Fed is expected to reiterate on Wednesday, Reuters writes. Read more

Finextra: Why open banking APIs are so different

Open banking comes with a lot of expectations and promises, such as democratisation of Access to Account (X2A), increased competition between banks and fintechs, and provision of better control to end-customers over their financial data and payments. To facilitate the adoption of open banking, several API standards incentives were created including Open Banking UK, Berlin Group, STET in France, Polish API, CDR in Australia, and so on. Also, a process of collaboration between API groups has been initiated. According to Finextra, in the real world of open banking, APIs’ consumers, including fintechs and banks themselves, have faced a lot of challenges while integrating those APIs into unified product propositions. Why? Because APIs are so different. Read more

MAIN EVENTS today

• Bundesbank conference on household finance

• EIB and Banco de España ‘Recovering swiftly to limit COVID-19 scarring of Spanish corporates’ events

• European Securities and Markets Authority event on taxonomy-related product disclosures

• Bruegel ‘The External Dimension of the EU’s Green Deal: What Role for EU Development Cooperation?’ event

• EBF's Chief Economic Group virtual meeting with IMF as guest speaker

For a full-year overview of key financial regulation events: click here

FROM THE EBF MEMBERS

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS

EBA: Guidelines on the delineation and reporting of available financial means of Deposit Guarantee Schemes

EBA launched a public consultation on its draft Guidelines on the delineation and reporting of available financial means (AFM) of Deposit Guarantee Schemes (DGSs). The purpose is to delineate that only funds contributed by credit institutions will count towards reaching the target level of the DGS fund. Read more

ESRB: Corporate insolvencies and coronavirus

A report by the European Systematic Risk Board (ESRB) presents a policy mix directed at preventing a wave of corporate insolvencies triggered by the pandemic. Banks will play a key role in debt restructuring and incentives for banks need to be considered. Read more

European Commission: Adoption of the Single Market Programme

With €4.2 billion over the period of 2021-2027, the Programme provides an integrated package to support and strengthen the governance of the Single Market, including for financial services. Read more

FROM THE EUROPEAN BANKING FEDERATION

ESMA consultation on Appropriateness Guidelines Under MIFID II: EBF response

The EBF welcomes ESMA’s effort to give guidelines on how to best apply the appropriateness test requirements. Below a few points, the EBF and its members underline: 1) The appropriateness guidelines as proposed by ESMA are going further than the original idea behind level 1 requirements; 2) Information provided to investors should be proportionate as far as the extent of information, means of communication and timing are concerned. one may fear that if too much information and too many details are required from clients, they may be desensitized to invest which would be contrary to CMU overarching objectives. Read more

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European Banking Federation