The Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided today to maintain the provision of emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks at the level decided on 26 June 2015 after discussing a proposal from the Bank of Greece.

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Officials in the USA have announced an $18.7 billion settlement with BP that resolves years of litigation over the oil spill of five years ago.
The settlement announcement comes as a federal judge was preparing to rule on how much BP owed in federal Clean Water Act penalties after million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico. The spill resulted from the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig, which killed 11 workers.

By Peter Praet

Long-run growth, monetary policy and financing of the economy may seem like an unusual combination of topics, as it is often argued that monetary policy has no long-run effects. Monetary policy can however affect long-run growth in several ways. Continue reading…

Euro area systemic stress has remained low over the past six months, according to the latest Financial Stability Review of the European Central Bank (ECB), which was released recently. This also reflects ECB action that calmed fears of a too prolonged period of low inflation threatening to harm both price and financial stability.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published an Opinion to the European Union (EU) institutions on the impact of EMIR on UCITS. In the opinion, ESMA calls for a modification of the UCITS Directive to take into account the clearing obligations for certain types of over-the-counter (OTC) financial derivative transactions under EMIR.
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A few days ago, information related to planned confidential Bank work on the potential implications of a renegotiation and national referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union made its way into the public domain, due to an internal email sent inadvertently to an external party. 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. In a previous blog post you could already get a sense if the impressive weaponry that the fraudsters have at their disposal. Continue reading…

Businesses should consider appointing an executive risk leader to navigate today’s increasingly complex world, or risk leaving their company exposed to the next big crisis, according to Airmic and other leading business organisations. The association’s CEO, John Hurrell, (see photo above)  has said this would open up exciting opportunities for risk professionals wanting a more strategic influence in their business.

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by Mike Wood

‘European Digital Banking Forecast’ by Forrester Research (*)  suggests that technology has transformed financial services, that online and mobile banking are widespread, and will continue to grow over the next few years. Digital banking is far more comprehensive than simply automating and optimising processes – it’s a case of business transformation to shake up existing ways of operating and thinking in order to better support customer demand.

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BTR Services consolidated its two offices in the Crescent in Anderlecht. The Crescent is a state-of-the-art business centre providing us with office space, a shared reception, meeting rooms, a company restaurant, a fitness room and more. At the opening ceremony for the new office mister Guy Van Hengel, minister of Finance, Budget and External Relations in the Brussels Capital Region, talked about the advantages for corporations of being located in Brussels. Continue reading…