The European Central Bank (ECB) and Народна банка на Република Северна Македонија (National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia) have agreed to set up a repo line arrangement to provide euro liquidity to the Republic of North Macedonia’s financial institutions through the central bank to address possible euro liquidity needs in the presence of market dysfunctions due to the COVID-19 shock.  Continue reading…

The Czech-Slovakian website will go live early in September. The European Compliance Center headed by Elina Karpacheva on the one hand and the Risk & Compliance Platform Europe headed by Michel Klompmaker are proud to announce that the existing cooperation will be further extended to the Czech Republic and Slovakia under the leadership of Dr. Branislav Hock. The two countries Czech Republic and Slovakia will be served substantively in their own language from the beginning of September. As is known, the Risk & Compliance Platform Europe has set itself the goal of providing risk and compliance professionals with unique content wherever possible in their own languages. The different language sites each have their own content that suits their own language area and national circumstances. Continue reading…

In recent years, the growth of technology-related threats has increased the importance of banks’ operational resilience. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the need to address these threats even more pressing. Given the critical role played by banks in the global financial system, increasing banks’ resilience to absorb shocks from operational risks, such as those arising from pandemics, cyber incidents, technology failures or natural disasters, will provide additional safeguards to the financial system as a whole. Continue reading…

John C. Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, recently gave a speech at the 16th Meeting of the Financial Research Advisory Committee for the Treasury’s Office of Financial Research. He shared his remarks via a teleconference: Good morning. Over the past four months we have experienced a series of unprecedented events. The pandemic, social distancing, and the economic fallout have transformed all of our lives. This summer, many Americans will be grieving the loss of loved ones, and many more will be faced with financial hardship and concern about the uncertainty of the future. Continue reading…

Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, recently gave a keynote speech via video conference from Singapore. COVID-19 has triggered the sharpest contraction in the global economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. We can expect a gradual recovery from the third quarter onwards as countries re-open their economies. But there is considerable uncertainty about the strength and durability of this recovery. The trajectory of the economy will be largely shaped by the trajectory of the pandemic – which is itself a significant source of uncertainty. The risk of secondary waves of infection is not trivial. Those countries that have put in place strong safe management measures and a robust regime of testing, contact tracing, and swift isolation of infected persons, are more likely to minimise a second outbreak of infections and sustain their economic recovery.  Continue reading…

by Ahsan Habib

Sanctions cannot bring about success in isolation. The dialogue with the target country must be ongoing, both at the official and diplomatic level and via view exchanges with citizens and opposition groups in the target country. I would like to start with remembering the fairytale (which was quite familiar to me when I was a young child back home in Bangladesh) in which a little girl had a choice of three beds in which she could take a nap. The father’s bed was too hard, the mother’s was too soft, and only the baby bear’s bed was comfortable enough for her in which to fall asleep, finally she picked the bear’s one. Undoubtedly, those who impose sanctions should recall that Goldilocks (that little girl in the fairytale ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’) only slept soundly when she found the bed that was neither too soft nor too hard. Sounds weird at the beginning!! Trust me, it’s not weird, but rather relevant. Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) recently published a stocktake of financial authorities’ experience in including climate-related risks in financial stability monitoring. It draws on information provided by FSB member national authorities, international bodies and a workshop with the private sector. The stocktake finds that financial authorities vary in terms of whether – and to what degree – they consider climate-related risks as part of their financial stability monitoring. Continue reading…

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently extended its recommendation to banks on dividend distributions and share buy-backs until 1 January 2021 and asked banks to be extremely moderate with regard to variable remuneration. It also clarified that it will give enough time for banks to replenish their capital and liquidity buffers in order not to act pro-cyclically. This updated recommendation on dividend distributions remains temporary and exceptional and is aimed at preserving banks’ capacity to absorb losses and support the economy in this environment of exceptional uncertainty. This uncertainty makes it difficult for banks to accurately forecast their capital positions. As demonstrated by the vulnerability analysis the level of capital in the system could decline significantly if a severe scenario were to materialise. Continue reading…

Judicial authorities in Germany are conducting an in-depth fraud investigation on the use of more than 200,000 diesel ‘defeat devices’ in cars produced by an international automotive group and international commercial vehicle manufacturer, as well as their subsidiaries. Coordinated searches to gather evidence are being carried out in Germany, Italy and Switzerland. The action was planned and coordinated with the support of Eurojust to ensure secure and efficient information exchanges between involved judicial and law enforcement authorities, agree on joint prosecutorial strategies and prepare operational actions, including today’s searches. The Frankfurt am Main Prosecution Service – Center for Commercial Criminal Matters – is leading the investigation in Germany against a number of responsible people working in the international automotive group. The investigation is focused on the suspicion that diesel engines installed in several car models sold by the company would be equipped with an illegal defeat device.  Continue reading…

With the help of Eurojust and several other national authorities in other countries, judicial and law enforcement authorities in Romania were able to successfully break apart an organised crime group that dealt in drug trafficking. As a result, 15 people were faced with charges and nearly 2 tons of cocaine with an approximate value of €600 million were sequestered. Continue reading…