by Christine Lagarde

The Governing Council decided last week to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. The incoming information has broadly confirmed our previous assessment of the medium-term inflation outlook. Inflation has continued to fall, led by lower food and goods price inflation. Most measures of underlying inflation are easing, wage growth is gradually moderating, and firms are absorbing part of the rise in labour costs in their profits. Financing conditions remain restrictive and our past interest rate increases continue to weigh on demand, which is helping to push down inflation. But domestic price pressures are strong and are keeping services price inflation high. Continue reading…

by Hans Timmrman

In 2019, the initiative ‘Positive Money Europe’ was launched. It is a non-profit organization aimed at repairing the ‘broken’ financial system in Europe and making the economy fairer, more democratic, and more sustainable. In their view, the European Central Bank (ECB) does too little for the average citizen and thereby for our society as a whole. Their example was ‘Positive Money UK’, which similarly focused on the Bank of England with a successful campaign called ‘Quantitative Easing for the People’. In short, all the money printed by central banks, partly due to significant inflation, primarily benefits financial institutions and hardly benefits the population. They want to change that. The ECB should primarily serve EU citizens. In this pursuit, they see the Digital European currency (CBDC) as an innovative solution to this problem. Continue reading…

by Uzi Rosha

Compliance programs serve as a critical foundation for ensuring financial institutions operate within legal and regulatory boundaries. The dynamic and complex nature of financial regulations necessitates a strategic approach to compliance, one that is proactive, adaptable, and comprehensive. Traditional compliance frameworks, while foundational, often struggle to keep pace with the rapid evolution of financial products, services, and regulations. In the rapidly evolving financial sector, technology plays a pivotal role in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of compliance programs. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

On 1 June 2023, The European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD for short). This directive requires all large organisations in Europe to identify and, where necessary, prevent, eliminate or reduce the negative impact of their activities on human rights and the environment in their value chains. Thus, the CSDDD is a duty of due diligence that affects entire value chains. We talked about this directive with Johan Löfquist, Head of Sustainability Data at Worldfavor. Continue reading…

by Uzi Rosha

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and increasing complexity, financial institutions face significant challenges in maintaining compliance with an ever-expanding array of legal and regulatory requirements. Financial firms have the opportunity to integrate technology to enhance effectiveness and efficiency, better meeting regulatory expectations and gaining competitive advantage. Continue reading…

by Elena Pykhova

This year’s view of the risk landscape from Best Practice Operational Risk Forum; members ranked top Operational risks in order of significance: Continue reading…

Ground-breaking new EU rules come into effect today introducing a minimum rate of effective taxation of 15% for multinational companies active in EU Member States. The framework will bring greater fairness and stability to the tax landscape in the EU and globally, while making it more modern and better adapted to today’s globalised, digital world. The entry into force of the minimum effective taxation rules, unanimously agreed by Member States in 2022, formalises the EU’s implementation of the so-called ‘Pillar 2′ rules agreed as part of the global deal on international tax reform in 2021.
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The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published the Global Monitoring Report on Non-Bank Financial Intermediation 2023. The report presents the FSB’s annual monitoring exercise assessing global trends and vulnerabilities in non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI). The report mainly covers developments in 2022, when most economies experienced a rising interest rate environment in response to inflationary pressures. It describes broad trends in financial intermediation across 29 jurisdictions that account for around 85% of global GDP, before narrowing its focus to the subset of NBFI activities that may be more likely to give rise to vulnerabilities. This year’s exercise includes data enhancements on interconnectedness, sources of funding, and vulnerability metrics. Continue reading…

Luis de Guindos

I will start by giving you an overview of the economic outlook for the euro area before going on to look at how the ECB has adjusted its monetary policy to this outlook. I will then discuss in more detail the transmission of our monetary policy in the current environment and the sources of uncertainty that appear particularly relevant at this stage. Continue reading…

by Michel Klompmaker

We recently spoke with Twan Houben about the possible impact of the enormously increased national debt in the United States. Twan Houben is concerned with crisis management, hence his special interest in the phenomenon of national debt on the other side of the Ocean. Then what’s going on? According to Marketwatch, the national debt there currently amounts to 33 trillion US dollars. To put that number into perspective, three years ago that was 23 trillion US dollars. It is not rocket science to calculate that with the increased interest rates in the last period, serious problems can arise if new loans have to be taken out to finance the national debt. But what are the consequences in Europe? Continue reading…