by Andy Scherpenberg

VAT carousels, intentional road collisions to defraud the insurance companies, ‘man in the browser’ technology that intercepts your financial transactions and modifies both amount and account number while you are still seeing the usual transaction screens: fraud has permeated every sector and is taking new forms and shapes. Fraudsters are becoming smarter by the day and they have access to more and more resources. In a previous blog post you could already get a sense if the impressive weaponry that the fraudsters have at their disposal. Continue reading…

by Andy Scherpenberg

VAT carousels, intentional road collisions to defraud the insurance companies, ‘man in the browser’ technology that intercepts your financial transactions and modifies both amount and account number while you are still seeing the usual transaction screens: fraud has permeated every sector and is taking new forms and shapes. Fraudsters are becoming smarter by the day and they have access to more and more resources. An overview.

Continue reading…

by Jos Feyaert

The battle against Tax erosion and the black economy can be fought by repression and heavy administrative control mechanisms and technologies as the white registers in restaurants and pubs. In Belgian we know what efforts have to be brought before it can be implemented. But why we don’t fight (at least partially) against it by using modern digital gamification technics, based on encouraging users (the crowd of clients) for asking for getting official invoices and bills from their suppliers. To be sure that the documents are not only issued, but also be registered and declared to the tax-authorities, one could organize a national lottery based upon the registered invoices.

Continue reading…

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched yesterday a consultation on draft guidelines on complex debt instruments and structured deposits. These guidelines are intended to enhance investor protection by offering further clarification on which types of financial instruments and structured deposits can be provided, that all the relevant legal conditions are fulfilled, without the firm assessing a client’s knowledge and experience (i.e. to carry out an appropriateness test).

Continue reading…

With the launch of euro zone quantitative easing on January 22, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi hopes to have delivered on his pledge to do “whatever it takes” to safeguard the region’s prospects. It was not quite a design classic but it was a feat of engineering nevertheless. The quantitative easing programme unveiled by ECB President Mario Draghi on last Thursday was – save for a few missing components – a pretty impressive machine. Continue reading…

The Swiss National Bank recently scrapped its CHF/EUR currency peg in an unexpected move that roiled financial markets. Here, we explain what may have been behind the move and its implications. What did the Swiss National Bank do and what was the reaction in the financial markets ? The SNB abandoned the CHF’s exchange rate peg against the EUR, which had been set at EUR1.20 since September 2011. The CHF rallied sharply in response to the move, gaining as much as 40 per cent against the EUR at one point, and hitting its highest level against the USD in three years. Such volatility is extremely rare in G-10 currencies. Continue reading…

Recently the German newspaper Handelsblatt had an interesting interview with Mario Draghi, President of the ECB about the future of Europe.

Continue reading…

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) recently (30 November 2014) announced the results of its EU – wide Insurance Stress Test. The exercise aimed to test the overall resilience of the insurance sector and to identify its major vulnerabilities. Continue reading…

The new Airmic-Axco database of international insurance regulations, Insight Risk Manager, has already proved very popular with the risk management industry. Just weeks after its launch in June, more than 100 Airmic members have registered and are actively using it, and the number of users continues to rise at a steady pace. Continue reading…