| EBF MORNING BRIEF Tuesday 23 June 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.
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FROM THE MEDIA
Reuters: UniCredit CEO calls for clarity on banks' dividend prospects
European banks need to be able to attract fresh capital and investors, in turn, need clarity on banks’ future dividend payments following a temporary freeze triggered by COVID-19, the head of Italy’s top bank UniCredit, Jean Pierre Mustier, said according to Reuters. Mr Mustier also is President of the European Banking Federation. Read more
Der Spiegel: ECB pandemic program is temporary crisis measure The ECB's bond-buying program has been heavily criticized in Germany. But ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos says it is a necessity in these times of crisis. He also praises the German response to the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, writes Der Spiegel. Bloomberg reports that Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann warned governments not to rely on the European Central Bank to keep borrowing costs artificially low once the economic fallout from the pandemic is contained. Read more Bloomberg
Euractiv: EU recovery fund leaves €1.6 trillion climate investment gap Calculations by experts now show that the EU’s planned economic rescue package, worth €750 billion, is nowhere near enough to achieve the bloc’s climate targets. Even in the best-case scenario, only one-third of the costs would be covered reports Euractiv. Read more FT: Berlin and ECB signal end to legal impasse over bond-buying Germany’s finance minister has said the stand-off between the country’s highest court and the European Central Bank is about to be resolved “without drama”, adding to signs that a solution could be found as soon as this week, says the FT. Read more (€)
Reuters: Covid-19 confounds bank risk systems The novel coronavirus has upended how banks manage lending risk, with decades of data rendered moot by a once-in-a-lifetime mix of global economic shutdowns, unprecedented government support and an uncertain path to recovery.
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EBF MEMBERS IN THE NEWS
Spain: fate of Spanish economy decided abroad
The president of the Spanish Banking Association warned of the "unquestionable" need to maintain market confidence in the Spanish economy, given that the current volume of foreign debt, equivalent to 170% of GDP, must be financed, plus the new needs that arise from the Covid-19 crisis. "The Spanish economy's future is at stake in the foreign sector", said José María Roldán in a meeting with company representatives from the CEOE's International Relations Committee. Read more (ES)
Slovakia: Bank levies threaten the stability of the banking sector
The current form of the bank levy significantly jeopardizes the financial stability of the banking sector and reduces its profitability reports the Slovak Banking Association. Only a stable and profitable banking sector is able to support the growth of the Slovak economy by providing a sufficient volume of loans to households, the business sector and the state. Bank levies threaten the stability of the banking sector even under standard circumstances, and the current crisis only deepens its fatal effects. Read more (SK)
UK: Podcast: Technology Transformation
Technology is transforming all aspects of financial services, including how firms interact with their customers, develop new business models, and how they enable their staff. In the first episode of the UK Finance podcast 'Future of Finance', speakers from Avanade and Microsoft explore how technology is transforming the workplace and the workforce. Read more
Norway: Speed up the extension of the debt registers
Now that you see the valuable effect of the registers, these should also be optimized for even better effect. Expansion of the registers to include all debt, not just unsecured credit as it is today, is a natural step, says Finance Norway's Consumer Policy Director Gry Nergård. Finance Norway registers that an overall finance committee at the Storting wants such an extension and asks the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs to continue the progress. Read more (NO) |
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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 40-page EBF blueprint ‘Lifting the Spell of Dirty Money’. The EBF presented its recommendations on 10 March. |
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FROM THE INSTITUTIONS
Commission: EU progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals
On Monday, European Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni held a news conference on the 2020 Eurostat report on progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in the EU. It is particularly important, this year because we are beginning, as you know, to integrate the SDGs in the EU economic policy coordination framework, the European Semester says Commissioner Gentiloni. Read more
ECB: Promoting growth and preventing fragmentation
In the face of a severe economic crisis, the ECB has expanded its bond purchases to promote growth, achieve its inflation aim and prevent fragmentation in the euro area, says Vice-President Luis de Guindos. He also discusses the resilience and main weaknesses of euro area banks. Read more
ESMA: Guidelines on MMF Reporting
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued the official translations of its guidelines on standardised procedures and messaging protocols. National Competent Authorities (NCAs) to which these Guidelines apply must notify ESMA whether they comply or intend to comply with the Guidelines, within two months of the date of publication by ESMA of the Guidelines in all EU official languages. Read more
SRB: MREL: the next steps
In a recent article, the SRB Board Member Sebastiano Laviola outlined the next steps with respect to minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) policy. SRB updated its MREL policy last month resulting in changes to the deadlines for binding MREL targets. SRB will decide on the level of MREL that institutions should hold in its 2020 resolution planning cycle. Read more BIS: Trade credit, trade finance, and the Covid-19 Crisis As the Covid-19 pandemic hits economic activity, the vulnerabilities of longer and more geographically extended trade credit chains are coming to the fore, especially those related to international trade. While risk mitigation is available from financial intermediaries, the bulk of the exposures associated with supply chains is borne by the participating firms themselves, through inter-firm credit reports the Bank for International Settlements Bulletin. 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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