EBF MORNING BRIEF Wednesday 18 November 2020 Good morning. Here are 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 FT: Bank regulator calls for dividends to remain on hold The secretary-general of the Basel committee of regulators has said it is far too early for banks to take a “victory lap” over their response to coronavirus, arguing that shareholder payouts should remain on hold until the long-term impact of the pandemic is clear. In an interview with the Financial Times, Carolyn Rogers, who took up the post at the global regulatory body in August last year, indicated that investors would have to wait longer for dividends or share buybacks, despite pressure from bankers to be allowed to restart payouts. Read more (€) PYMNTS: ECB to launch probe of 10-hour payments system outage ECB has plans to independently investigate an incident that affected its TARGET2 real-time gross settlement system on Oct. 23 this year, which resulted in a near 10-hour outage, according to a press release, PYMNTS reports. An initial probe determined that a software defect in a specific device was what caused the incident, the release stated. The independent investigation will look into the other incidents affecting TARGET Services in 2020, including anything that directly or indirectly affected TARGET2 Securities, which is operated by the Eurosystem. Read more CNBC: Full impact of pandemic on EU’s banks won’t be clear until 2021 Elke König, chair of the Single Resolution Board of the Single Resolution Mechanism, which oversees the restructuring of failing banks in the EU, said she expected a rise in the number of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the region, which in turn would hit bank balance sheets, CNBC writes. Read more FT: BBVA in merger talks with smaller rival Sabadell Spain’s second-biggest bank BBVA is in merger talks with its smaller domestic rival Sabadell as consolidation in the Spanish banking sector steps up a gear, FT reports. BBVA confirmed the talks with Sabadell, which owns TSB in the UK, on the same day that it announced it was selling its US operations to PNC in an all-cash deal for $11.6bn. Sabadell has a market capitalisation of €2.3bn compared with BBVA’s €24.5bn. Read more (€) Finextra: Banks should be preventing fraud, not playing catch up Ville Sointu, head of emerging technologies at Nordea, highlights that the intent of GDPR was “fantastic. It provides better data protection for the citizens of the European Union and beyond and therefore, asking companies to be more diligent with personal data and giving customers more control.” However, despite these intentions, there are downsides, and these have manifested themselves as friction, Finextra writes. Read more |
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Join and register for free EU PAYMENTS AT CROSS-ROADS: WHAT STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE? ONLINE/ Thursday, 19 November, 15:00 CET Join us on Thursday, 19 November at 15:00 CET, and hear from our panel "Retail payments strategy for Europe: What's next for the European payments markets?" as part of the EBF " EU payments at cross-roads: what strategy for the future?" online conference. |
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MAIN EVENTS today EPC Board meeting For more events check the EBF planning calendar HERE *All events take place in Brussels unless stated otherwise |
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FROM THE EBF MEMBERS NVB: How to prepare companies for the quantum age Quantum.Amsterdam, the innovation centre for quantum software in the Amsterdam region, offers the General Awareness Quantum Computing workshop every last Friday of the month starting 27 November 2020. The workshop came about through collaboration between Betaalvereniging Nederland, the Dutch Banking Association (NVB), ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank, QuSoft (the research centre for quantum software set up by the CWI and the UvA) and the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (HvA). Read more (NL) UK Finance: Are data protection and open banking compatible? Are data protection and Open banking compatible? Caroline Winch, Commercial Director, Confirmation blogs for UK Finance and discusses how the potential of Open banking could be achieved by greater collaboration. Read more BPFI: SCA for online shopping is coming – What does it mean? PSD2 is there to protect consumers and make shopping online more secure. As the final changes for PSD2 come into full force from 1st January 2021, have a look at what these changes might mean for you, and any steps you may need to take by visiting the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) latest post. Read more Finance Norway: The Expectation Barometer 2020 The main indicator in the Finance Norway Expectation Barometer falls for the fifth quarter in a row. Nevertheless, the figures for the fourth quarter show that households have high confidence in their own finances. Probably with good reason. Read more (FI) |
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FROM THE INSTITUTIONS ECB: Recovering from the pandemic Our models suggest it will take a year or 18 months from now before the European economy returns to where it was before the coronavirus crisis, but we can already see the light at the end of the tunnel, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane. Read more FSB: Covid-19: Financial stability impact and policy responses The FSB published a report on the Covid-19 pandemic, discussing the financial stability impact and policy responses. It finds that heightened economic uncertainty and continued elevated risks to financial stability reinforce the case for continued close international cooperation to help maintain global financial stability, keep markets open and functioning, and preserve the financial system’s capacity to finance growth. Read more ISDA: The Brexit end game The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) published an article on progress of the Brexit process regarding the cross-border derivatives business between the EU and the UK. It finds that both EU and UK authorities have taken action in one important area: recognition of central counterparties (CCPs). Read more BIS: Bargaining power and the Phillips curve: a micro-macro analysis The relationship between inflation and economic activity has apparently weakened in recent years. BIS asks how trends in workers' bargaining power may have played a role. Read more |
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Join and register for free Banking Essentials Webinar: SME FINANCE IN THE 2020s Powering up the economy engines ONLINE/ Tuesday, 24 November, 15:30 CET Small and medium-sized companies, especially those in services, are essential to create the new sustainable and digital jobs required to fuel the economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. SMEs are the backbone of Europe’s economy, representing 99% of all businesses in the EU and employing around 100 million people. They account for more than half of Europe’s GDP and play a key role in adding value in every sector of the economy. Encouraging growth in SMEs can deliver the innovation required for a successful twin transition to a sustainable and digital economy. 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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