📰 EBF Weekly Brief - Friday 8 May

Europe Day, EU budget, Covid-19, on EU Parliament plenary agenda

This Saturday is Europe Day. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration which laid the foundations for today's European Union. MEPs will pay further homage to the Declaration on Thursday 14 May. The EU's long-term budget and the impact of Covid-19 feature on the Parliament plenary agenda next week, with many MEPs continuing to participate remotely. On Wednesday 13 May, the whole Parliament at the plenary session will discuss the Commission’s new proposal for the EU’s long-term budget. Committees will also debate on a range of issues linked to the Covid-19 crisis including the use of personal data in the fight against the pandemic and how the digital transformation can boost recovery. Plenary agenda

FROM THE MEDIA today

Euractiv: EU executive proposes anti-money laundering plans

The European Commission outlined a series of proposals to bolster Europe’s inefficient anti-money laundering system, including a new pan-European authority, reports Euractiv. The Commission’s action plan includes a more harmonised set of rules and more powers and resources for national and European supervisors. They will be put forward within the next year. Read more Reuters

WSJ: ECB Offers to pay banks to keep credit flowing, banks refuse

The European Central Bank has offered to pay eurozone banks if they keep loans flowing to eurozone businesses. But many banks—still struggling with bad loans left over from the last crisis—have turned the central bank down, says the Wall Street Journal. The European Central Bank is betting heavily on a long-term loan program to help businesses and households. Read more (€)

Reuters: Italian banks report mixed Q1 results

Italy’s state-owned bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena, and fifth largest by assets, posted a 244 million euro loss in the first quarter after writing down loans due to the economic fallout from the pandemic, says Reuters. Italy’s third-largest bank Banco BPM reported a better than expected first-quarter net profit and said it would set new targets to take into account the virus fallout, reports Reuters. Handelsblatt states that most Italian banks have the worst still ahead of them and the next balance sheet season will show this much more clearly than before. Reuters Monte Dei Paschi Reuters II Banco BPM Handelsblatt

Q1 bank earnings: ING profit falls 40%, provisions rise

Biggest Dutch bank ING's reported a first-quarter net profit that fell sharply as the bank's provisions to cover potential soured loans more-than tripled and revenue slipped. The Dutch bank added 661 million euros to its provisions for bad loans, reports RTT News. For the same period last year, the figure was EUR207 million. Read more FD(NL)

S&P Global: Spain's banks to take further profit hit

Spanish bank profits are expected to continue falling sharply in the coming months as demand for mortgages and consumer finance slump, and provisions for bad loans rise amid the coronavirus pandemic. Five of Spain's largest lenders posted a sharp drop in profits in the first quarter of the year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. Read more

EBF IN THE NEWS this week

EBF supports new EU plans to fight money laundering

The European Banking Federation, committed to an effective fight against money-laundering in Europe, is greatly encouraged by the proposals presented today by the European Commission to move towards a stronger EU-wide approach to fight dirty money. Read more EBF’s AML Blueprint

EBF presents new Sustainable Finance website page

The European Banking Federation has redesigned the Sustainable Finance page on its website. Have a look at the EBF initiatives supporting the development of the environment, both regulatory and non-regulatory in which banks can play a concrete role in financing the global energy transition, decarbonisation of the economy and achieving the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the SDGs of the United Nations. Read more

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS this week

Commission steps up fight against money laundering

The Commission has published an ambitious and multifaceted Action Plan, which sets out concrete measures that the Commission will take over the next 12 months to better enforce, supervise and coordinate the EU's rules on combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The aim of this new, comprehensive approach is to shut down any remaining loopholes and remove any weak links in the EU's rules. Read more Q&A

Statement by EP Conference of Presidents on the Schuman Declaration

The celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration comes at a moment when Europe is facing its most difficult challenge since the end of the Second World War: a health, economic and social crisis triggered by the outbreak of Covid-19. Read more

ECB: 2019 Annual Report

The ECB published on Thursday the 2019 Annual Report. It showed unemployment continued to fall until year-end, annual inflation declined to 1.2 and the total value of euro banknotes in circulation is €1.293 trillion. Read more

SRB: Resolution planning cycle of 2020

The Covid-19 outbreak has left us in uncharted waters, with the ultimate effects on the global economy and the banking industry still unknown. However, the resolution framework put in place after the financial crisis means we have a steadier hand on the tiller. Good planning, the basis of all crisis preparation, helps us to navigate the way forward. And, despite the current uncertainty, the 2020 resolution planning cycle is well on track. Read more

OEDC: Financial Literacy: PISA 2018 Results (Volume IV)

The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines what students know in reading, mathematics and science, and what they can do with what they know. It provides the most comprehensive and rigorous international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Read more

Commission: Spring 2020 Economic Forecast

On 6 May 2020, Commissioner Gentiloni published the Spring 2020 economic forecast for the European Union, which confirmed that despite mitigating actions from the EU and the Member States, “the EU economy will experience a recession of historic proportions this year”. Read more

ECB's Andrea Enria introductory statement to the ECON committee

Our first goal has been to ensure banks can contribute to the recovery from this crisis, by continuing to finance households and businesses. At this point, it is hard to accurately predict how the crisis will unfold. As prudential supervisors, it is our role to prepare for the worst and hope for the best said Andrea Enria, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB at the public hearing at the ECON committee. Read more. EGov Briefing ECON

ESMA publishes annual bond transparency calculations

ESMA has published the results of the annual transparency calculations of the large in scale (LIS) and size-specific to the instruments (SSTI) thresholds for bonds. Read more

BIS: Stocktake report on climate-related financial risk initiatives

The Basel Committee has published a stocktake report on climate-related financial risk initiatives. This is the first report by the high-level Task Force on Climate-related Financial Risks. Read more

WEDNESDAY 27 MAY - ONLINE WORKING SESSION
How to use a .BANK domain for
cybersecurity defense

Join us to learn why a move to the gated .BANK domain is a bank’s best option for cybersecurity against phishing and spoofing attacks and Business Email Compromise (BEC) leading to breaches, identity theft and financial fraud. A verified .BANK domain creates trusted websites and email channels; a trust that is necessary when adding digital banking products and services for new customer acquisition and enhancing existing relationships. INFO & REGISTRATION

EBF MEMBERS IN THE NEWS this week

UK: Lenders provide £5.5 billion to SMEs through CBIL scheme

The banking and finance sector has lent over £5.5 billion to SMEs so far through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), UK Finance revealed on Thursday, as part of a broad package of support to help businesses through these tough times. Read more

Sweden: Great interest in the Debt Office's guarantee program

In order to facilitate small and medium-sized companies during the corona crisis, the government has established a government loan guarantee of SEK 100 billion, which is issued by the Swedish National Debt Office. Read more (SE)

Germany: Harmonisation necessary for combating of money laundering

"More legal harmonisation and more tailored cooperation are decisive parameters for a successful fight against money laundering in Europe". This was Andreas Krautscheid's comment on the European Union's action plan to combat money laundering presented on Thursday. Read more (DE)

Ireland: Mortgage market activity impacted by Covid-19 crisis

Banking & Payments Federation Ireland published the latest figures from the BPFI Mortgage Drawdowns Report for Q1 2020 and BPFI Mortgage Approvals Report for March 2020. Read more

Spain: Spanish banks make a profit of 11.904 billion in 2019, 18% less

11.904 billion in 2019, down 18.3% on the previous year, mainly due to higher provisions and write-offs of intangible assets amounting to 4,000 million euros. Read more (ES)

Finland: Digital education provides relief from unemployment

The availability of online training must be improved on a fast schedule so that Finns can acquire skills that support employment. Read more (FI)

France: The key stages of the State-guaranteed loan in an infographic

For professionals or companies with less than 5,000 employees and a turnover of fewer than 1.5 billion euros in France, the French Banking Federation put into an infographic all the steps to benefit from the State-guaranteed loan. Read more (FR)

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.