Michel Klompmaker

The new €20, the third in the Europa series, enters into circulation today

25 November 2015

The new €20, the third in the Europa series, enters into circulation today. It has a refreshed look and more vibrant colours, and includes a new kind of security feature: a “portrait window” near the top of the hologram stripe which becomes transparent when seen against the light. The window reveals a portrait of Europa, a figure from Greek mythology, which is visible on both sides of the note. The same portrait is also visible in the watermark, alongside an emerald number which displays an effect of the light moving up and down when the note is tilted – exactly like in the €5 and €10 of the Europa series.
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One commom goal for The Hague Security Delta

11 November 2015

The Hague Security Delta (HSD) is the largest security cluster in Europe. In this Dutch cluster –with important regional hubs in The Hague, Twente, and Brabant– businesses, governments, and knowledge institutions work together on innovation and knowledge in the fields of cyber security, national and urban security, protection of critical infrastructure, and forensics. They share a common goal: more business activity, more jobs and a secure world.

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Stress test 2016 conducted by the European Banking Authority

05 November 2015

The European Central Bank (ECB) has today published the list of 39 euro area banks that will participate in the 2016 EU-wide stress test conducted by the European Banking Authority (EBA). The EBA will coordinate the exercise in cooperation with national authorities and the ECB. The overall exercise will examine a total of 53 banks across the EU. It will help the public and other stakeholders to compare and assess the resilience of the banks, notably their ability to absorb shocks and meet capital requirements under adverse macroeconomic conditions.

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Four significant Greek banks in stress under stress test

03 November 2015

ECB Banking Supervision conducted a comprehensive assessment of the four significant Greek banks (Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank) in line with the decision by the Euro Summit on 12 July 2015 and the Memorandum of Understanding between the European Commission, acting on behalf of the European Stability Mechanism, the Hellenic Republic and the Bank of Greece, signed on 19 August 2015.

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Stress Testing: Putting the Pieces Together to Solve an Increasingly Intricate Puzzle

01 November 2015

The global financial crisis and the aftermath that continues to unfold have created a justifiable obsession with stress among bankers and supervisors: how to prepare for it, guard against it and respond when it flares up by understanding the various sources of risk to which each institution is exposed and how the exposures interact with one another. The sharper focus has made stress testing a key component of the evolving global regulatory framework covering risk control, capital discipline and reporting.

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ECB published Report on Financial Structures

29 October 2015

The European Central Bank has today published the Report on Financial Structures (RFS) 2015. The RFS succeeds the Banking Structures Report (BSR) and covers not only the banking sector, but also other financial intermediaries, such as insurance corporations and pension funds (ICPFs), as well as non-bank and non-insurance financial intermediaries. Looking at interconnectedness across different parts of the financial sector, the report shows that banks and other financial intermediaries (OFIs) are the largest holders of loans. OFIs are also the largest counterparties. For debt securities, banks are both the largest holders and the largest counterparties.  Continue reading…