FROM THE MEDIA this week

Reuters: Germany wants EU to make progress on Banking Union

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Thursday that EU Finance Ministers should speed up stalled talks about the EU's Banking Union, and added that all countries need to move to reach a compromise, reports Reuters. "This is in the end the idea of not sticking to the one question, because if we want to create a Banking Union, this is not about EDIS," he said, refererring to the European Deposit Insurance System at a Breugel seminar. Read more
 

Handelsblatt: Deutsche Bank CEO gives grim outlook for global economy

The economy will not return to pre-coronavirus levels for a “long time,” Christian Sweing, the chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank warned at a Handelsblatt conference on Wednesday, CNBC reported. “A lot of companies have to manage to live with reduced sales for quite a long time. We have to deal with an economic situation where we will have a recovery, yes, but only step by step and not in all industries,” Sewing warned. CNBC Handelsblatt

Reuters: Return to big offices? Why branches may get a new lease of life

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online banking in Europe, but it has also given some suburban branches an unexpected new purpose – as alternative office spaces for staff reluctant to commute to big HQs in city centres, Reuters reports. Read more

FD: EBA probes de-risking by banks due to AML/CFT rules

The European Banking Authority considers the possibility that rules against money laundering and financing of terrorism have gone too far and have become counterproductive, Het Financieele Dagblad reports. The supervisor notes that de-risking efforts by banks are leading to the exclusion of entire groups of customers and now is looking into this, also through a consultation. Read more (NL). BNR Radio (NL).
 

De Standaard: Low interest rates harm European banks, study shows

European banks are doing worse than American ones, reports Belgian daily De Standaard, citing a new study by Gent University. Profitability is too low and harms the viability of the banking sector, the researchers conclude. Diversification and cost savings are needed to remedy the situation. Read more (NL). Ghent University research article 

FT Opinion: Europe's banks have become 'essentially uninvestable'

If 2008 was a heart attack for the world’s banks, 2020 is showing the sector to be both morbidly obese and dangerously addicted to prescription drugs, Patrick Jenkins writes in the Financial Times. Central bank interventions that have held down capital costs and helped mitigate customer loan losses have had a nasty side effect. Combined with the build-up of plump capital buffers that policymakers have insisted on over the past decade, they have conspired to destroy returns, rendering many banks essentially uninvestable. Read more
 

Euromoney: ESG data – mind the gaps

The $40 trillion environmental, social and governance investment industry is built on a bedrock of data from an ever-widening range of sources. Is that data fit for purpose? The financial industry, including the EBF, has asked the European Commission to set up a centralized register for ESG data. Read more. IEX

BANKING ESSENTIALS WEBINAR

Sustainability & Going Green:
How will Banks adapt to this new world?
Tuesday 15 September

As regulatory pressure mounts it is imperative that banks have a clear plan to address climate risks and to finance a green agenda. Join our experts as they discuss how banks can achieve a successful climate management strategy. Register HERE

FROM THE EBF this week

Banks underline need for smooth implementation of SRD II

With only a few days to go before the European Union’s second Shareholder Rights Directive becomes applicable the European Banking Federation calls on the European Commission and EU regulators to ensure a smooth and gradual implementation of the new rules designed to deepen corporate governance in the EU’s capital markets. The EBF asks EU regulators and supervisors to consider three critical aspects during the implementation. Read more

Joint ESAs consultation on Sustainable Finance disclosures – EBF response

The EBF has responded to the joint consultation of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) setting out the proposed Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on content, methodologies and presentation of disclosures under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, known as SFDR. Read more
 

Guidelines on Outsourcing to Cloud Service Providers – EBF response

The EBF has responded to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) consultation on Guidelines on Outsourcing to Cloud Service Providers and has called for a strong alignment of the ESMA guidelines with the existing guidelines of the European Banking Authority (EBA) in order to prevent a disproportionate burden for financial institutions covered by both regimes.
Read more

FROM THE MEMBERS this week

UK Finance: Future of Finance Podcast with Huw van Steenis

It has been a year since Huw van Steenis published his Future of Finance review. As a senior adviser to Mark Carney he led the review into the future of the UK’s financial system, and what it might mean for the Bank of England's agenda over the coming decade. One year on and in a very different socio-economic environment, what does the report's architect think of the progress that has been made, and where the Bank and wider industry should be focusing their energies? Listen here.

NVB: Corporate 'corona' financing by banks rises to 23.7 billion euro

Since the pandemic started in March banks in the Netherlands have provided, in addition to the government's support programme, financial support to more than 161.000 entrepreneurs. The moratorium on loan repayments and the provision of loans and other credits to companies now involve some 23.7 billion euro, compared to 22 billion four weeks ago, according to an update provided today by the Dutch banking association NVB. Read more.

BPFI: Mortgage approvals up 51% in July, down 30% year-on-year

The Banking and Payments Federation Ireland has published its July 2020 Mortgage Approvals Report, showing a total of 3,397 mortgages approved in July to a value of €811 million. Read more.

FBF: Etienne Barel nommé Directeur général délégué de la FBF

Etienne Barel rejoint la Fédération bancaire française (FBF) à compter du 1er septembre 2020, en tant que Directeur général délégué, en charge des départements supervision bancaire et comptable, fiscalité, relations institutionnelles Europe et international, banque d'investissement et de marché, climat. Read more
 

Bankenverband: Review of the Interchange Fee Regulation Position

The German Banking Industry Committee (GBIC) welcomes this new report as it once again underlines the EU Commission’s goal to promote cashless payments within the European single market. GBIC fully supports the political aim to promote secure, innovative, and efficient payment solutions, especially when they are “made in Europe”, because payment systems are a critical infrastructure. They are an essential brick of strengthening Europe's sovereignty and autonomy. Read more

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS this week

ECB: Europe needs a fully fledged capital markets union – more than ever

The coronavirus crisis makes progress on capital markets union even more important, write ECB Vice-President Luis de Guindos and Executive Board members Fabio Panetta and Isabel Schnabel in a joint blog post. The reforms should be pursued jointly and immediately. They could speed up the European recovery and increase growth potential, which would strengthen public finances. They would also support the transition to a low-carbon and digital economy. Read more

ESMA: High risk of decoupling markets and underlying economic activity

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its second Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities (TRV) Report of 2020. A webinar open to the public will be held on 9 September to present the report. The Report analyses the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets during the first half of 2020 and highlights the risk of a potential decoupling of financial market performance and underlying economic activity, which raises the question of the sustainability of the current market rebound. Read more.

EBA: François-Louis Michaud starts as new EBA Executive Director

François-Louis Michaud has started 1 September in his new role as Executive Director of the European Banking Authority (EBA). Michaud, who was confirmed in this role after a plenary vote in the European Parliament on 8 July 2020, will serve a five-year renewable term. 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 [email protected].

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.