EBF WEEKLY + FINANCIAL REGULATION AGENDA for the week starting Monday 26 July 2021 An overview of the main financial regulation and banking stories this week and a look ahead to key events for the upcoming week, brought to you by the European Banking Federation Recommend the EBF newsletters to a colleague. Click here to sign up! |
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The EBF Newsletters take a summer break! We will be back in September! Looking forward to seeing you for a new exciting season of key events and stories in the financial and banking sector. |
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Ecofin: EU Finance ministers to discuss Recovery Plan & AML package |
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EU Economic and Financial affairs ministers will meet virtually on Monday for the Ecofin's meeting. Discussions will be held in public sessions during the legislative deliberations. Ministers will focus on economic recovery. They will take stock of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Besides, EU leaders will exchange views on the second batch of proposed Council implementing decisions on the national recovery and resilience plans. The Commission will present its new anti-money laundering package, after which ministers will have an opportunity to express their views. The meeting will be chaired by Slovenia’s Minister for Finance, Andrej Šircelj. Read more |
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FINANCIAL REGULATION AGENDA for next week Monday 26 July Tuesday 27 July Wednesday 28 July Thursday 29 July For a full-year overview of key financial regulation events: click here |
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FROM THE MEDIA FT: ECB vows to persist with negative rates in bid to fuel inflation The European Central Bank (ECB) will keep buying bonds and maintain its deeply negative interest rates in an attempt to shift the eurozone economy out of its persistent pattern of sluggish inflation, The Financial Times reports. The ECB also said it was prepared to tolerate a moderate and transitory overshoot of its inflation target. Christine Lagarde, ECB president, acknowledged there had been some divisions in the governing council over the guidance but it had been supported by “an overwhelming majority”, in contrast to the unanimous support for its new strategy. Read more Law360: ECB seeks to assure data protection board over Digital Euro The European Central Bank (ECB) has assured that its plan to create a Digital Euro will not infringe citizens' privacy and that it will minimize the amount of personal data it collects about users' payments. "Protecting users' personal data and ensuring a high level of confidentiality will be a priority so that a digital euro can help maintain trust in payments in the digital age", Fabio Panetta, executive board member at the ECB said in a letter to the European Data Protection Board. The decision to take the next step in Digital Euro comes after encouraging results from expert analysis and experiments with factors such as privacy, money laundering, and access for users, Law 360 reports. Read more S&P Global: EU regulators set to give banks flexibility in final Basel III implementation EU regulators may take a more flexible approach to the implementation of the final Basel III banking reforms as banks call for adjustments to the rules amid a pandemic-battered economy. The European Commission's proposal "will meet our international commitments to implement the Basel III standards, but adjustments to those will be made to reflect the specificities of the EU economy and banking sector," an EC spokesperson told S&P Global Market Intelligence. Read more |
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FROM EBF MEMBERS NVB: Hans van Loon on the Data Processing Joint Ventures Act The chamber is putting a lot of pressure on banks to reimburse all kinds of frauds. This month a motion passed to have banks reimburse even Whatsapp fraud. In this episode of Cyber Heroes, Hans van Loon of the Dutch Banking Association (NVB) discusses the Data Processing Joint Ventures Act and its role in tracking down cybercriminals with help from banks. Listen here (NL) CBA: Commentary on the mortgage market in June 2021 Miroslav Zamecnik, advisor to the Czech Banking Association (CBA) comments the latest findings on the mortgage market. Data show that mortgage rates rose slightly again in June while banks raised the volume of mortgages to almost 44.5 billion crowns, which is just below the historical record from March this year. Mortgages are still cheap, but the offer prices of housing more than tripled. Read more (CZ) BdB: Negative interest rates burden banks in the euro area with an annual 17 billion euros “Today the ECB confirmed what was already apparent with its new strategy two weeks ago: the economy will unfortunately have to live with negative interest rates for a long time to come”, said Christian Ossig, Chief Executive of the Association of German Banks (BdB). The negative ECB interest rate continues to be a significant burden for banks in the euro area and it is now very important to relieve the banks and significantly expand the tax exemption. Read more (DE) |
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FROM THE INSTITUTIONS ECB: Monetary policy decisions The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) agreed a symmetric inflation target of 2% over the medium term. In support of the symmetric inflation target and in line with its monetary policy strategy, the Governing Council revised its forward guidance on interest rates to underline its commitment to maintain a persistently accommodative monetary policy stance. The Governing Council also confirmed its other measures to support its price stability mandate, namely the level of the key ECB interest rates, its purchases under the asset purchase programme (APP), its reinvestment policies and its longer-term refinancing operations. Read more SRB: New heat-map approach enhances resolvability assessment The pandemic also reminded stakeholders of the need to ensure operational readiness for crisis management. To set the direction for this, the Single Resolution Board (SRB) published the Expectations for Banks early last year, which sets out the operational capabilities banks are expected to demonstrate to show they are resolvable. A more transparent assessment of resolvability is the next key milestone in the framework. That’s why a heat-map on assessing resolvability has been defined; it is designed as a tool to monitor, benchmark and communicate on banks’ progress towards full resolvability. Read more BIS: Denis Beau: What will the bank of the 21st century look like? Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of France discussed what the bank of the 21st century will look like at at the Crypto Finance Forum. "Transformations will have a positive impact on the efficiency and stability of our financial system, provided they are accompanied by better user experiences and more diversified financing of the economy. But they also carry risks. This implies reviewing the scope and content of certain regulations to ensure that the regulatory framework is favourable to innovation and neutral with respect to technologies, but also guarantees an appropriate and homogeneous treatment of risks throughout the financial system according to the "same activity, same risk, same rules" principle", he said. Read more |
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FROM THE EBF this week EBF supports the EU’s latest efforts in the fight against financial crime EBF expressed support for the objectives of the European Commission’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Package which aims to strengthen the fight against financial crime in Europe. The banking industry representative also emphasised the need for some specifications to be laid down to ensure that the new EU AML Authority plays a useful role in preserving the integrity of the European Union’s financial system and the security of its citizens. Read more Assessment of SMEs’ Post-COVID Financial Health: Joint call for dialogue EBF partnered with ten European associations representing SMEs, accountants, financial and guarantee institutions, and other key actors in the SME ecosystem in a joint statement calling for dialogue on the assessment of SMEs’ post-COVID financial health at the EU and national levels. We will organise pan-European discussions involving our sectors and the relevant public authorities to ensure a common understanding of the challenges and solutions, and support potential initiatives by our national members to organise cross-sectoral national meetings, reflecting country specificities and needs. Read more Targets for addressing the four challenges of cross-border payments consultation: European Banking Associations response EBF together with other banking sector associations responded to the Financial Stability Board’s consultation on Targets for Addressing the Four Challenges of Cross-Border Payments. Overall, we appreciate the initiative for global action. However, we believe that such a complex overhaul of the global payments system requires a thorough analysis as well as an analysis of the whole system, in order to define a target date. Right now, the targets are a strong challenge for all parties involved, and some adjustments to the proposed targets are needed. Read more |
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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 from across Europe. The federation 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. Website: www.ebf.eu |
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This newsletter is published by the EBF Mediacentre. For questions or suggestions contact f.indaco@ebf.eu European Banking Federation Avenue des Arts 56, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium |
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