EBF MORNING BRIEF          Monday 3 April 2023

FROM THE MEDIA 

Reuters: ECB still has a 'little way' to go on rates, Villeroy

As reported by Reuters, the European Central Bank (ECB) still has a "little way" to go with interest rate increases to vanquish core inflation, said Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France and French ECB policymaker. In addition, he affirmed that the ECB, which aims to steer inflation back towards 2% by between end-2024 and end-2025, could only consider the battle over when underlying inflation, which excludes energy and food prices, had also come under control. Read more

Bloomberg: Europe wants to make it easier to wind down medium-sized banks

According to Bloomberg, the European Union wants to make it easier to wind down medium-sized banks that fail by tapping national deposit guarantee systems for funding. In a proposal due around mid-April, the European Commission (EC) would facilitate using these funds to bridge gaps at banks that don’t have sufficient reserves and avoid tapping uninsured depositors. Europe came up with new rules for failing banks to avoid a repeat of the taxpayer-funded bailouts that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Read more 

Finextra: EPC names Giorgio Andreoli Director General

Giorgio Andreoli became the new Director General of the European Payments Council (EPC), Finextra reports. With extensive experience across digital finance, Andreoli has most recently been working at the European Central Bank (ECB) on the Digital Euro project and from 2010 to 2021, he served as a managing director at Accenture, working on payments and open banking projects for Italian and European clients. Read more

MAIN EVENTS

• Council Working Party on Tax Questions (Direct Taxation)

• Council Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Financial Services)

• Council Working Party on the Environment

For a full-year overview of key financial regulation events: click here

To meet real customer needs, boost innovation and ensure a level playing field, the upcoming Open Finance proposal of the Commission should adopt a market-led approach. The latest EBF Paper calls for voluntary data sharing, supported by a flexible framework of key principles for all market participants, including incentives for data sharing and strong security and consumer protection provisions, including on liability. Data-driven innovation in finance should be part of the wider EU Data Economy, and therefore Open Finance must have cross-sectoral data sharing built-in.

FROM EBF MEMBERS

UK Finance: What does the future of payments look like?

UK Finance and Ernest Young (EY) held a joint event on the future of payments "The PayTech Strategy Day". The event brought together industry leaders and SMEs to develop an industry view on the biggest trends influencing payments and give thought to how these are all interconnected. Six key topics were discussed: cross-border payments, digital wallets, digital currencies and CBDCs, real-time payments, BNPL and embedded payments, and open banking. Read more

Finance Norway: Important for 600,000 pension owners

Norwegians' largest pension assets are in so-called free policies. The Finance Minister is taking an important step to create the opportunity for a better return on the 330 billion pensions. The managing director at Finance Norway, Kari Olrud Moen, said that this will increase customers chances of getting their pensions up-regulated. Read more(NO)

AAB: National final of the Money Quiz 2023 organized

On 30 March 2023, the Albanian Association of Banks (AAB), in cooperation with the Bank of Albania and with the support of the Ministry of Education and Sport and the Albanian Deposit Insurance Agency (ADIA), organized for the fifth time the national final of the European Money Quiz, with the participation of 926 students of the group aged 13-15 from 89 schools from all over the country. The winning team will compete representing Albania in the European Money Quiz, which will be held on 16 May 2023, in Brussels, Belgium. Read more

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS

ECB: ECB gender targets: interim assessment

The European Central Bank (ECB) has achieved its interim gender targets for managers, which is particularly important for creating role models and mentoring. It has narrowed the gap at the expert (salary band F/G) and the team lead (H) levels and is making further efforts to increase hiring and promotion for these two categories. At the analyst level (E/F), the share of women has continued to grow in line with the ECB’s goals, which helps to extend the pool of eligible women for further career steps. Read more

EBA: Guidelines to challenge unwarranted de-risking and safeguard access to financial services to vulnerable customers

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published new Guidelines to ensure that customers have access to the financial services they need to fully participate in society and that they are not denied this access on unsubstantiated Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) grounds or without valid reason. These Guidelines will contribute to foster a common understanding by institutions and AML/CFT supervisors of effective money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risk management practices. Read more

ESMA: Statement on the Derivatives Trading Obligation

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a Public Statement on the Derivatives Trading Obligation (DTO) in the context of the migration of credit default swap contracts out of ICE Clear Europe. Read more

FROM THE EBF  

EBF: Views on Open Finance: towards a fit-for-market approach

To meet real customer needs, boost innovation, and ensure a level playing field, the upcoming Open Finance proposal of the Commission should adopt a market-led approach. The latest EBF Paper calls for voluntary data sharing, supported by a flexible framework of key principles for all market participants, including incentives for data sharing and strong security and consumer protection provisions, including on liability. Read more

EBF: European banking industry sets out a vision for digital euro

The European Banking Federation (EBF) has published a vision paper on a Digital Euro Ecosystem. It argues that a retail digital euro could be envisaged in the mix of new tools and solutions to meet evolving payment needs, as long as it adds value to consumers, is appropriately designed, in close cooperation with the private sector, and mitigates ex ante the accompanying risks. Read more

New EBF Vacancies! Work with us!

Visit our Vacancies page to learn more about the opening positions at the EBF. Read more

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

European Banking Federation