FROM THE MEDIA

Bloomberg: EU considering 'benchmark' for bank finance 

The European Union is reviewing measures that would help companies and households take advantage of unprecedented relief measures after complaints that banks are reluctant to lend, reports Bloomberg. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Brussels was looking at setting a “European benchmark of relief measures, best practices in selected areas which then can be followed by institutions across the EU.”  Read more
 

Reuters: New EU corporate tax would target below 0.2% of turnover 

A new corporate tax could raise 10 billion euros a year to help fund stimulus plans while amounting to less than 0.2% of turnover of large companies that benefit from the European Union’s single market, writes Reuters. Under a plan awaiting approval or changes from the 27 EU member states, the European Commission would borrow an unprecedented 750 billion euros in the market to fund spending aimed at reviving economies ravaged by the coronavirus crisis. Read more FT(€)
 

Risk.net: EU Parliament ‘likely’ to allow market risk capital relief

Politicians in the European Parliament look set to agree an amendment giving supervisors powers to temporarily lower a multiplier used within the calculation of trading book capital requirements, reports Risk.net. Read more (€)
 

FT: Germany’s savings banks under fire from European watchdogs

Europe’s main financial regulators are on a collision course with Germany’s dominant savings banks as a push to reform their deposit protection scheme threatens to shake up decades-old privileges at the country’s largest and most politically entrenched banking group, writes the FT. Read more (€)
 

Verdict: ECB set to approve UBI Banca acquisition

Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo is expected to receive regulatory approval from the European Central Bank in the next two weeks for the proposed acquisition of rival UBI Banca, reports Verdict. Read more
 

The Banker: The outlook for eurozone banks - podcast

Alex Birry, managing director, financial institutions, S&P Global Ratings, talks to James King about the health of the euro area banking sector and the prospects for consolidation in light of the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more

FROM THE EBF
 

Covid-19: Banks acting responsibly as part of society

At the invitation of European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Banking Federation on Thursday took part in the EC’s Roundtable videoconference to review relief measures for businesses and consumers designed to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout this crisis, the banking industry continues to stand with its clients – both businesses and households. Read more
 

Brexit: EBF view on the use of equivalence regimes

The ongoing Brexit negotiations on the future relationship will have a major impact on customers, businesses and citizens on both sides of the Channel. Irrespective of the outcome, the impact will not mean business as usual as the current situation where the UK is still part of the Single Market. Equivalence in the financial sector will most probably be a major tool for regulating interactions with third countries but will not replicate the benefits of Single Market membership. Read more

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS

ECB: Opinion on amendments to the Union prudential framework

The ECB has published its opinion on amendments to the Union prudential framework in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It includes specific observations on transitional arrangements for mitigating the impact of IFRS9 provisions on regulatory capital and the treatment of publicly guaranteed loans under the NPE prudential backstop. Read more

EBA: Guidelines for strengthening lending standards in the future

The EBA has published its Guidelines on loan origination and monitoring that expect institutions to develop robust and prudent standards to ensure newly originated loans are assessed properly. The Guidelines also aim to ensure that the institutions’ practices are aligned with consumer protection rules and respect fair treatment of consumers. Read more

EP: The ECB Mandate: Perspectives on Sustainability and Solidarity

The European Parliament has published an in-depth analysis about the ECB mandate including perspectives on sustainability and solidarity. It analyses the ECB mandate in light of its primary objective of price stability along with its secondary objective to support the general economic policies in the Union (Article 127 TFEU), which include employment, growth, climate change, and the quality of the environment, bearing in mind the broader goals of sustainability and solidarity (Article 3 TEU). Read more

BIS: Countering Covid-19: The nature of central banks' policy response

Agustin Carstens, General Manager of the BIS, has given opening remarks on the nature of central banks’ policy response. He stated that there is a need to recognise the limits of monetary policy. Central banks cannot intervene in government debt markets on a large scale for any great length of time. Eventually, the natural boundaries between fiscal and monetary policy will need to be fully restored to preserve central bank credibility. Read more

European Commission weekly schedule

European Central Bank weekly schedule

Find out more about the ECB's engagements and activities for the upcoming week. Read more
 

EU Parliament weekly schedule

Find out more about the Parliament's engagements and activities for the upcoming week. Read more

EBF Blueprint for an Anti-Money Laundering Policy
 

LIFTING THE SPELL OF DIRTY MONEY
 

Based on four priorities - Harmonise, Cooperate, Empower and Be Smarter - the European Banking Federation has formulated 20 concrete policy recommendations that are elaborated in the EBF blueprint ‘Lifting the Spell of Dirty Money’. The EBF presented its recommendations on 10 March.  Full AML Blueprint

EBF MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

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.

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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