Germany

European Commission consults on AIFMD review

On 22 October 2020, the European Commission launched a public consultation on the review of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The public consultation follows the European Commission’s review report sent to the European Parliament and the Council on 10 June 2020. The review report concluded that, while the AIFMD has contributed to the … Continue Reading

Member States discuss proposed European legislation on digital operational resilience

By Anna Carrier (BE) on October 23, 2020 Posted in Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 22 October 2020, the German Presidency of the Council held a meeting of a working party on financial services, agenda of which included discussion on the recently published European Commission proposal for a Regulation on digital operational resilience in financial services (DORA). We provided an overview of the proposed legislation in our earlier blog … Continue Reading

Bribery and money laundering considerations for joint ventures

Introduction Whatever the legal form of a joint venture, the collaboration and joint participation in the JV’s business objectives can present an enhanced corruption risk. This is because in some circumstances, a company entering into a JV could be criminally liable for the corrupt actions of its JV partner, the JV itself, or third parties … Continue Reading

Doing business in the EU after the transition period

We have further updated our popular client briefing note ‘Doing business in the EU’ covering the temporary transitional relief measures EU27 Member States are implementing, if any, for the period after the transition period should the UK/EU not enter into a free trade agreement. For a copy of the updated briefing note please contact Simon … Continue Reading

Regulation and Directive on European crowdfunding service providers published in OJ

By Matthew Gregory (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Germany, Italy, Regulation and Compliance, Regulation and compliance, Regulation and compliance, Regulation and compliance, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 6 October 2020, we reported that the European Parliament issued a press release stating that it had adopted at second reading a Regulation on European crowdfunding service providers for business and a Directive making amendments to MiFID II. These two pieces of EU legislation were subsequently published in the Official Journal of the EU … Continue Reading

EBA issues opinion to address possible infection risk stemming from legacy instruments

By Albert Weatherill (UK) on October 22, 2020 Posted in Capital Adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 21 October 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued an opinion to clarify the prudential treatment of the so-called ‘legacy instruments” in view of the end of the grandfathering period on 31 December 2021. In its opinion, the EBA proposes policy options to address the infection risk when created by such instruments. The EBA’s … Continue Reading

European Commission Work Programme 2021: focus on financial services

By Flupke van den Bogart on October 21, 2020 Posted in EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, EU policy, regulatory and legislative updates, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020 the European Commission published its Work Programme for 2021. The Work Programme, titled ‘A Union of vitality in a world of fragility’, is the second one published by the Von der Leyen Commission. The Work Programme provides an overview of the legislative priorities of the Commission for the upcoming year, as … Continue Reading

Download now | Global operational resilience and COVID-19 survey report

Financial institutions have had to deal with two challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first challenge is financial – how to address and mitigate the sharp drop in the value of financial assets or loss of liquidity. The second challenge is operational – how to address the risk of failure of resources … Continue Reading

ESMA consults on RTS related to EMIR 2.2

By Hannah McAslan (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Clearing and Settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a consultation paper regarding the technical standards on conditions which require an extension of authorisation for a central counterparty (CCP), conditions which require validations of a CCP’s changes to models and parameters by a Member State competent authority (NCA) and ESMA and the … Continue Reading

FSB final report – Effective practices for cyber incident response and recovery

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 19 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a toolkit of effective practices for financial institutions’ cyber incident response and recovery (CIRR). The toolkit draws on the feedback from a public consultation process, including four virtual outreach meetings. The report was delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for their October … Continue Reading

Commission consultation on ELTIFs

By Imogen Garner (UK) and Iona Wright (UK) on October 20, 2020 Posted in Collective Investment Schemes, Collective investment schemes, Collective investment schemes, Collective investment schemes, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 19 October 2020, the European Commission launched a public consultation on EU rules for long-term investment funds. European long-term investment funds (ELTIFs) is an EU scheme to facilitate investment – through alternative investment funds – in longer-term assets such as transport and social infrastructure projects (energy, hospitals, social housing), property and small firms. The … Continue Reading

FSB publishes global transition roadmap for LIBOR

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 19, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Benchmarks – IBOR transition, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 16 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a global transition roadmap for LIBOR. The roadmap sets out a timetable of actions for financial and non-financial sector firms to take in order to ensure a smooth LIBOR transition by end-2021. The roadmap provides that: By the end of 2020, at a minimum: Lenders … Continue Reading

Monthly Global FinTech regulatory updater

By Hannah Meakin (UK) on October 19, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Every month we provide the Global Blockchain Business Council’s Post-Trade Distributed Ledger group with a global regulatory FinTech updater, the latest version of which can be found here. Post Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group is composed of over 40 prominent market infrastructure stakeholders whose shared vision of the use of distributed ledger technology has brought … Continue Reading

BIS speech – The Basel Committee’s initiatives on climate related financial risks

By Imogen Garner (UK) and Daniel Nevzat (UK) on October 16, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, ESG, ESG, ESG, ESG, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 14 October 2020, the Bank for International Settlements published a speech by Kevin Stiroh (Co-Chair of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Risks of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Executive Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York) on the Basel Committee’s initiatives on climate-related financial risks. In his speech … Continue Reading

EBA consults on the revision of the Guidelines on major incident reporting under PSD2

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 15, 2020 Posted in Germany, Italy, Payment Services, Payment services, Payment services, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 14 October 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a public consultation to propose revising the guidelines on major incident reporting under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The proposal aims at optimising and simplifying the reporting process, capturing additional relevant security incidents, reducing the number of operational incidents that will be reported, and … Continue Reading

PRA hosts IRB mortgage roundtable

By Matthew Gregory (UK) on October 15, 2020 Posted in Banking, Banking, Banking, Banking, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 14 October 2020, the PRA published a new webpage concerning a recent IRB mortgage virtual roundtable it hosted. The roundtable followed the publication of Policy Statement 11/20: Credit risk: Probability of Default and Loss Given Default estimation. During the virtual roundtable the PRA used an internal ratings based model to calculate capital requirements for … Continue Reading

Market Fragmentation: updates on ongoing work

On 14 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report providing an update on its ongoing work concerning market fragmentation. The report describes progress in the four areas identified in the June 2019 FSB Report on Market Fragmentation: (i) deference; (ii) pre-positioning of capital and liquidity; (iii) regulatory and supervisory coordination and information-sharing; … Continue Reading

EBA publishes final draft RTS specifying the prudential treatment of software assets

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 15, 2020 Posted in Capital Adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 14 October 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a report containing final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying the prudential treatment of software assets. Article 36(1)(b) of the Capital Requirements Regulation (as amended) (CRR), provides for an exemption from the deduction of intangible assets from Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) items for ‘prudently … Continue Reading

FSB publishes high-level recommendations for regulation, supervision and oversight of “global stablecoin” arrangements

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 14, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 13 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published the final version of its high-level recommendations for the regulation, supervision and oversight of “global stablecoin” (GSC) arrangements following an earlier public consultation. The report states that GSC arrangements are expected to adhere to all applicable regulatory standards and to address risks to financial stability … Continue Reading

Corrigendum to Regulation (EU) 2019/630

By Jochen Vester (UK) on October 14, 2020 Posted in Capital Adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 13 October 2020, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU, a corrigendum to Regulation (EU) 2019/630 amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 as regards minimum loss coverage for non-performing exposures. The corrigendum amends Article 1(2), second subparagraph of new Article 47a(6), introductory part. The corrigendum changes ‘Full and timely repayment shall not … Continue Reading

FSB report – enhancing cross-border payments

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 14, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Payment Services, Payment services, Payment services, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 13 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report to enhance cross-border payments. The report was delivered to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors for their meeting on 14 October 2020. The G20 has made enhancing cross-border payments a priority during the Saudi Arabian Presidency, and asked the FSB to coordinate … Continue Reading

Central banks and BIS publish first central bank digital currency report laying out key requirements

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on October 13, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 9 October 2020, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) published a report, Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features. The report was compiled by the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the BIS. … Continue Reading

FSB report highlights increased use of RegTech and SupTech

On 9 October 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) published a report on the use of supervisory (SupTech) and regulatory (RegTech) technology by FSB members and regulated institutions. The report notes that SupTech and RegTech tools could have important benefits for financial stability. For authorities, the use of SupTech could improve oversight, surveillance and analytical … Continue Reading

RTS on central contact points under PSD2 published in OJ

By Albert Weatherill (UK) on October 13, 2020 Posted in France, Germany, Italy, Payment Services, Payment services, Payment services, The Netherlands, United Kingdom

On 9 October 2020, there was published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJ) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1423 of 14 March 2019 on supplementing Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the criteria for appointing central contact points within the field … Continue Reading