EU

Brexit, CCPs, EU, UK

HM Treasury equivalence decisions for the EEA States – 9 November 2020 The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (Article 13) Equivalence Directions 2020 will grant equivalence to the EEA States for…

FT: EU set to extend access to London clearing houses to mid-2022

September 16, 2020

Brexit, Clearing houses, EU, US

The EU is preparing to offer its banks an 18-month extension on access to London’s crucial markets infrastructure as it seeks to prevent a jolt to financial stability when the…

EIB’s Eila Kreivi on the EU’s COVID-19 fundraise and its implications for ESG

September 16, 2020

ESG, Regulatory

COVID-19, EU, European Investment Bank, Green Bonds, topstory

In March, the European Union announced a €750 billion ($887.8bn) recovery package expected to begin early next year. The debt-raising will make the EU a more prominent supranational player in…

AFME prompts EU to adopt regulatory framework for advanced tech

September 14, 2020

News and Notes – Fintech

AFME, artificial intelligence, cloud, cryptoassets, cybersecurity, EU

AFME is calling on the EU to help unlock the potential of new technologies for European capital markets. In a recent publication, AFME outlines the regulatory framework needed to support…

What drove US and EU government repo rates last week (Premium)

June 8, 2020

ECB, Federal Reserve, Repo

ECB, EU, Federal Reserve, GCF Repo, IOER, RepoFunds Rate, topstory, US

It can be hard to track the rationale behind government repo market pricing around the world, especially in the face of massive central bank intervention. In a new development, one…

The steepening slope of financial deregulation (Premium)

April 13, 2020

Regulatory

Bank of Japan, Basel III, EU, Federal Reserve, topstory, US Treasuries

We’re expecting that one outcome of the COVID-19 epidemic will be looser bank balance sheet regulations that may ultimately derail the Basel III framework. Basel III was already strained before…

Why Financial Transaction Taxes grab headlines but are not fit for purpose

February 24, 2020

Tax

EU, Financial Transaction Tax, topstory, US

Financial Transaction Taxes (FTT) make for great political soundbites. Tax the banks! Raise revenues! There are a bunch of ways to get that job done but FTTs aren’t it. Here’s…

FT: EU “digital sovereignty” threatens asset managers’ outsourcing

February 17, 2020

News and Notes – Fintech, Uncategorized

cloud technologies, data management, EU, Gaia-X

Former Brussels lawmaker Kay Swinburne has warned that the EU’s push to establish its own data storage infrastructure to rival US giants Amazon and Google threatens the outsourcing arrangements that…

EU “fitness check” finds areas for improvement in data and tech

November 10, 2019

News and Notes – Fintech, Uncategorized

data management, EU, regtech, suptech

There is no question about the need for EU supervisory reporting, especially in a world where financial services and their supervision are increasingly data-driven. Nonetheless, a recent assessment suggests that…

Liquidnet: Swiss Exchange a winner after EU equivalence loss

July 17, 2019

EU, exchanges, Switzerland

The loss of equivalence to Swiss markets on July 1st and the introduction of the Swiss Ordinance have already led to a change in liquidity formation and the immediate winner…

FT: IHS Markit advises EU executive on consolidated tape revenue plan

July 12, 2019

News and Notes – Fintech

EU, IHS Markit, market data

European policymakers are working on ways to break the deadlock with stock exchanges and encourage them to share their highly prized trading data. One potential solution: pay them. Over this…

Reuters: EU gives market benchmark compilers two-year grace period

February 27, 2019

Benchmarks, EU, Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union has agreed to give the financial sector an extra two years to comply with new rules aimed at avoiding a repeat of attempts to…

SB: EU aims for supercomputing leadership with €9.2bn program

January 14, 2019

News and Notes – Fintech

artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, EU, fundraising, HPC, Quantum Computing

The €9.2 billion ($10.5bn) Digital Europe programme will put the EU in a “better position” than the US and China in high-performance computing (HPC), said Khalil Rouhana, deputy director general…

ASIFMA: Asia struggling to meet EU Benchmarks Regulation

October 31, 2018

Asia, ASIFMA, Benchmarks, EU

ASIFMA, the financial industry’s leading regional trade association, today released a new report “The EU Benchmarks Regulation and Asia: Hurdles Rise as the 2020 Deadline Nears.” The report was co-authored…

FT: EU pledges access to UK clearing houses in no-deal Brexit

October 30, 2018

Brexit, CCPs, EU, FT

Brussels has responded to financial industry calls for continued access to London’s capital markets by providing reassurance that EU groups will temporarily be able to use crucial derivatives clearing services…

European Commission plans to endorse SFTR

August 2, 2018

Alex Tonhazy

EU, SFTR

The key objective of SFTR is to improve the transparency of the securities financing market. In particular, market participants are required to report securities financing transactions (SFTs) to a central…

Risk: EU Considering Moving Leverage Ratio Reporting From Quarterly to Daily

July 18, 2018

The European Parliament wants to close a loophole in leverage-ratio reporting by making banks calculate the ratio daily, instead of quarterly. The switch is intended to reduce volatility by curbing…

Brexit white paper asks EU for coordinated approach to financial services

July 12, 2018

Alex Tonhazy

Brexit, EU, UK

As the UK leaves the EU and the Single Market, it recognises the need for a new and fair balance of rights and responsibilities. The UK can no longer operate under…

European Commission launches the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum

February 3, 2018

News and Notes, News and Notes – Fintech

blockchain, EU, European Commission

The Commission launched the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum with the support of the European Parliament. The observatory will highlight key developments of the blockchain technology, promote European actors and…

Reuters: EU seeks to soften rules for tackling failing banks

February 1, 2018

default, EU

Trading firms could withdraw deposits held at a failing bank sooner than originally planned under draft European Union rules, a proposal from the bloc’s president showed. The aim of the draft…

The Hill: EU setting financial regulation ‘gold standard’ as US takes back seat

November 6, 2017

Basel III, EU, financial regulation, MiFID II

US regulators, preoccupied with modifying the decade-old, hastily put together Dodd-Frank regulatory regime, have let their guard down, potentially leaving the European Union’s (EU’s) fast-tracked regulatory regime to dominate US …

Collateral scarcity premia in euro area repo markets

October 27, 2017

News and Notes, Uncategorized

collateral, EU, premia

Using bond-level data from both repo and securities lending markets, this paper introduces a new measure of collateral reuse and studies the drivers of the cost of obtaining high-quality collateral, i.e.…

Basel Committee report card on LCR in China, EU, and US

July 5, 2017

Basel Committee, China, EU, LCR, US

Today the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published reports assessing the implementation of the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) in China, the European Union and the United States. Overall, the LCR…

EU approves money market reform rules

May 17, 2017

EU, Europe, European Union, Money Markets

EU rules are to be introduced on money market funds, aimed at supporting the role that the €1 trillion market plays in financing the economy. On 16 May 2017, the Council adopted a regulation…

Reuters: EU to ease derivatives rules, holds fire on euro clearing changes

May 1, 2017

derivatives rules, EU

The burden of new regulation for derivatives markets would be eased and competition increased under proposals from the European Union’s executive, a document seen by Reuters showed, which omitted any…

ESMA advises European Commission on fees for trade repositories

April 24, 2017

ESMA, EU, Trade repositories

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published today its final technical advice to the European Commission regarding supervisory fees for Trade Repositories (TRs) under the Securities Financing Transactions Regulation (SFTR).…

European Supervisory Authorities highlight risks for the EU financial system

April 20, 2017

ESMA, EU, risk

The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) has published its spring 2017 Report on risks and vulnerabilities in the European Union’s financial system. The Report…

European news roundup: Basel III, FTTs and Brexit (Premium)

September 1, 2016

Basel III, ECB, Europe, Tax

Basel III, Brexit, EU, Europe, FTT, topstory

We were pleased to see two points of sanity emerge from Europe this week. Both had the themes of scaling back regulatory overreach and seeking to strike a realistic balance between a…

Jonathan Hill resigns from European Commission

June 27, 2016

Like many people here and in the UK, I am obviously very disappointed about the result of the referendum. I wanted it to end differently and had hoped that Britain…

Bloomberg: EU delays non-cleared derivatives rules to mid-2017

June 9, 2016

EU, non-cleared derivatives

The European Union will push back the completion of collateral rules for the multi-trillion-dollar swap market to the end of the year, breaking with U.S. authorities who have set a…

SFT-R compliance and operational readiness (Premium)

January 26, 2016

Richard Stinchfield

Europe, Lehman, Market infrastructure, Operations, Re-Hypothecation, Regulatory, Securities Lending, Shadow Banking, Systemic Risk, Trade Repositories

EU, financial regulation, securities finance, SFTR, Shadow Banking, topstory

The EU’s Securities Finance Transactions Regulation (EU Regulation 2015/2365, or SFT-R) is now officially “live”, as of January 12, 2016. We spoke with European market participants over the last couple…

Bloomberg: separating EU investment and retail banking may not be necessary

October 30, 2015

Updated on October 29, 2015 — 2:32 PM EDT Bank Separation May Face Higher Hurdles in EU Lawmakers’ Deal Breaking up European Union banks would be tougher under a compromise…

Is the EU really thinking about restricting collateral chains? Boy, we hope not….

August 26, 2013

Jonathan Cooper

Basel III, Re-Hypothecation, Repo

BIS, Collateral Chains, EU, LCR

An August 22, 2013 article in Bloomberg “EU Said to Weigh Curbs on Collateral Asset Reuse in Repos” by Jim Brunsden & John Glover certainly caught our attention. Quoting from the article:…

Betting on a trade repository in securities lending and repo

April 19, 2012

Regulatory, Repo, Securities Lending

EU, Federal Reserve, Financial Stability Board, Repo, Securities Lending, Shadow Banking, Trade Repository