📰 EBF Weekly Brief - Friday 3 July

Eurogroup: Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain ministers eye top eurozone job

So who will succeed Portugal’s Mario Centeno as Eurogroup president now that his mandate is ending? Three candidates have made pitches to lead the Eurogroup as the currency bloc’s economies reel from the coronavirus crisis. Nadia Calviño, economy minister in Spain’s left-of-centre government, Ireland’s finance minister Paschal Donohoe and Pierre Gramegna of Luxembourg have all declared their candidacy for the role. The election of the new president will take place at the next Eurogroup, on Thursday 9 July. The President is elected by a simple majority of the Eurogroup ministers. The winner will be announced to the ministers at the end of the vote and presented at the Eurogroup press conference at the end of the meeting. The new president will succeed Centeno upon the expiry of his mandate, on 13 July 2020, for a period of two and a half years. Read more Eurogroup Agenda

EP Plenary: Merkel to address MEPs Wednesday in Brussels

MEPs return to Brussels for a plenary sitting from Wednesday 8 to Friday 10 July. Political groups will discuss topics on the agenda and prepare for debates with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the programme of the German Council presidency that started this week. The visit is expected to take place on Wednesday. MEPs will also meet and exchange views with EU Council President Charles Michel on the outcome of the Multi-annual financial framework-focused 19 June EU summit. Plenary is expected to discuss upcoming votes on the mobility package and sectorial Covid-19 measures and prepare their input to debates on the future EU Health Strategy, on the fight against money laundering, on EIB activities, on EU energy networks and storage and on the 2019 Human Rights report. Plenary agenda

FROM THE MEDIA today

Reuters: 16 banks launch pan-European payments system

Sixteen European banks announced the implementation phase of a “truly European” payments system, expected to be up and running in 2022 to fully digitalise a region where half of all retail payments are still in cash, writes Reuters. EU policymakers and central bankers have long sought a “home grown” rival to take on global giants such as Visa and Google. Both the ECB and the joint ECSA group consisting of European bank associations including the European Banking Federation welcomed the initiative in a statement. Read more Finextra Paypers Les Echos EBF

Politico: EU seeks fines for countries missing dirty-money laws

Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands face fines for failing to fully enact EU anti-money laundering measures due three years ago, reports Politico. The European Commission said it would call on the Court of Justice to issue financial penalties. The lawsuits relate to the fourth version of the EU’s directive against dirty money, known as AMLD 4, which introduced more risk-based surveillance of the financial system, to hunt down criminals and terrorists. Read more (€) Bloomberg

Politico: Watchdogs should share info to stop dirty money - BIS

Bank regulators should check with dirty-money watchdogs before approving licenses or majority investments, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has said according to Politico. The Basel Committee updated its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing guidelines to include recommendations on exchanging information with specialist AML/CFT watchdogs. Read more (€)

Global Capital: Banks begin pre-sounding for autumn IPOs

Europe's equity capital markets bankers are preparing for a busy autumn of IPOs this year and have been meeting with investors to secure early support for these deals, says Global Capital. Bankers are hoping the new deals retain some of the features of successful listings in the first half of the year. Read more (€)

FT: Deutsche Bank considers aid for Wirecard bank

Deutsche Bank is working with German regulators on a potential bailout of Wirecard Bank, the deposit-taking unit of the payments group at the centre of one of the country’s biggest postwar accounting frauds, writes the FT. Read more (€) Bloomberg

Bloomberg: UniCredit nears sale of €1.5 billion bad debt to Italy banks

Largest Italian lender UniCredit is close to selling bad loans with a face value of more than 1.5 billion euros, signaling that the pandemic hasn’t undermined a thriving market for Italian credit, says Bloomberg. Read more

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS this week

BIS: Basel Committee finalises AML/CFT supervision guidelines

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued the updated version of its guidelines on Sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism, with guides on the interaction and cooperation between prudential and anti-money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervisors. These guidelines are intended to enhance the effectiveness of supervision of banks' money laundering and financing of terrorism risk management, consistent with and complementary to the goals and objectives of the standards issued by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and principles and guidelines published by the Basel Committee. Read more

Commission: Austria, Belgium, Netherlands fail to implement AMLD4

The European Commission has referred Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union, with a request for financial sanctions, for failing to fully implement the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD4) into their national law. Read more

ECB: Monetary policy in the post-coronavirus economy

Downside risks are prominent, but a pre-emptive and decisive policy response has put us in a much better position to avoid more severe scenarios, said ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta at the Capital Markets webinar organised by the EIB and the ESM. Read more

38th meeting of ESRB General Board: Main results

The General Board of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) held its 38th regular meeting on 25 June 2020. It discussed the consequences of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic for the EU’s economy and financial system. Read more

ECON activities in regard to Covid-19

The European Parliament and in particular the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs are at the forefront of the debate, actively partaking in the elaboration of European policies and solutions to prevent a deep and protracted economic crisis and to lay down foundations for the Europe's long term recovery. Read more

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FROM THE MEMBERS this week

France: Publication of the Ombudsman's annual report to the FBF

On the occasion of the publication of her annual report, the Mediator of the French Banking Federation looks back on three key events of this year: the fall in referrals concerning bank charges, the upsurge in scams and the emergence of new disputes. Read more (FR)

Finland: Vanhanen calls for sustainable investment

In an interview with Finance Finland​, Matti Vanhanen, Finland’s Minister of Finance, promotes the urgency of sustainable investing. The criteria for sustainable investments must remain moderate so that sustainable businesses will attract enough financing. Read more

Denmark: Denmark surpasses 70,000 equity savings accounts

New figures from Finans Danmark show that by the end of June 2020, almost 75,000 equity savings accounts were created. This is an increase of 50 per cent. since January 1, 2020, when approximately 50,000 equity savings accounts were created. Read more (DK)

Luxembourg: State of play for the financial sector in Luxembourg

On Wednesday, The Luxembourg Bankers' Association (ABBL), in its report on the state of play and prospects for the financial sector in Luxembourg, fears a turbulent year in 2020. On the other hand, the ABBL speaks of a "stable and important contribution of banks to the Luxembourg economy" in 2019. Read more (FR)

Switzerland: Corona crisis: 6 digital trends for the financial centre

The conversion of the banks to Corona operation was quickly achieved. Customers showed a very high level of acceptance of digital services. The corona crisis is an eye-opener for the strategic importance of digitalization, writes Martin Hess of the Swiss Bankers Association. Read more (DE)

FROM THE EBF this week

Banks launch European Payments Initiative - Joint press release

The ECSA group of bank associations, including the European Banking Federation welcome the decision taken today by a group of 16 major European banks to take their European Payments Initiative (EPI) to the next phase. The implementation phase of the EPI is set to start this summer as it aims to become a true pan-European payment solution leveraging notably instant SEPA credit transfers. EPI has the ambition to become the new standard of payments for European consumers and merchants in all types of payment transactions. Read more

EU Digital Finance Strategy: EBF responds to EC consultation

The European Banking Federation has submitted its response to the European Commission consultation on an EU Digital Finance Strategy. Click here for the contribution submitted by EBF. The EBF welcomes the European Commission’s initiative to present a new Digital Finance Strategy this year and its commitment to support the development of digital finance in the EU. This is crucial in the view of European banks, who continue their work to ensure a secure digital transformation of financial services, shaping new business processes and delivering on client expectations in a digital economy. Read more

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 EBF’s 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

EBA consultation non-trading book positions under FRTB: EBF response

The EBF has responded to the consultation paper on draft RTS on the treatment of non-trading book positions subject to foreign-exchange (FX) risk or commodity risk of the European Banking Authority (EBA). Read more

High-Level Forum’s Report on the Capital Markets Union: EBF Response

The European Banking Federation sincerely welcomes the publication of the final report of the High-Level Forum on the Capital Markets Union “A New Vision for Europe’s Capital Markets”. As the initiator and coordinator of the Markets4Europe campaign, the EBF fully believes that the upcoming Action Plan should be used to remove regulatory obstacles as recommended in the campaign’s roadmap “Transforming Europe’s Capital Markets”. Read more

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.