The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is warning investors to be vigilant to the threat posed by investment scammers, as data from Action Fraud reveals over £197 million1 of reported losses in 2018. Victims were scammed out of over £29,000 on average last year, as fraudsters employed increasingly sophisticated tactics to persuade victims to invest.
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by Daan Lunsingh Scheurleer

On January 29th, 2019, a bill introducing a collective damages action on an opt-out basis for persons domiciled in the Netherlands was adopted by the lower house of Dutch Parliament. The bill will now be submitted to the upper house for approval. If approved, the bill may come in to force and effect on July 1st, 2019 at the earliest. However, this would require a rather swift approval process and January 1st, 2020, seems to be the more likely effective date. Under the current collective litigation regime, no monetary damages can be sought on a collective basis. The essence of the bill is that this restriction will be removed, so that a group action for monetary damages is possible. At the same time, the bar is raised for collective claims in order to achieve a fair and balanced system, which provides a higher level of finality for defendants. Under the new regime, finality is also increased by making a court ruling awarding or denying the collective relief sought binding on the individual members of the group, whereas under the current regime, there is no such binding effect. Continue reading…

Businesses and consumers across Europe and in Japan can now take advantage of the largest open trade zone in the world. The Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and Japan has enter into force. Businesses and consumers across Europe and in Japan can now take advantage of the largest open trade zone in the world.
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The European Central Bank (ECB) published aggregate results for the 2018 stress test for all participating banks under its supervision. The 87 banks covered in the report include 33 euro area banks that were part of the EU-wide stress test coordinated by the European Banking Authority (EBA). The ECB conducted additional stress tests on 54 significant institutions which it directly supervises and which were not part of the EBA stress test. Both sets of results form the aggregate report released today. The reference date for the 2018 stress test was 31 December 2017.

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Recently we spoke to Evert-Jan Lammers regarding the 2019 Program Forensic Auditing, located in Brussels (in English) developed by a small team of the Institute of Fraud Auditors (IFA) Belgium. The IFA is the National Professional Federation of Fraud Auditors in Belgium. IFA was founded in 2001 as a not for profit association which is based on a public-private partnership. IFA holds a Register of professionals who are certified as “Registered Fraud Auditor”. IFA develops best practices for professionals who are active in the domain of fraud combat in the public and private sector. IFA is hosting these trainings. The Program Forensic Auditing is organized in Brussels, with experienced trainers. Candidates of the Program have to attend 24 workshops in English. After having successfully finished the Program, candidates will receive the title of Registered Fraud Auditor (RFA).

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published new rules and guidance to improve the quality of the information available to consumers about the funds they invest in. The asset management industry plays an important role in the UK’s economy. Asset managers seek returns for investors by investing in a variety of assets.  Over £1 trillion is managed for individual investors and £3 trillion on behalf of UK pension funds and other institutional investors. The FCA’s asset management market study presented evidence of weak price competition in many areas of the asset management industry. This means lower returns for savers, pensioners and other investors.
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Following the 2008 crisis, reforms were needed in Europe’s financial sector. The establishment of the single rulebook and the launch of the European Union’s banking union with its rules and institutions constitute a commendable success in this regard. The banking union is currently based on two pillars: the Single Supervisory Mechanism and Single Resolution Mechanism. However, since these were put in place, the political will to complete the banking union has waned.
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Bank for International Settlements (BIS) address to what extent a central bank can de-risk its balance sheet through unconventional monetary policy operations. To that end, BIS propose a novel risk measurement framework to empirically study the time variation in central bank portfolio credit risks associated with such operations.

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Federal banking agencies find that risk in the portfolio of large syndicated bank loans has declined, due to improving conditions in most sectors. Despite the improvement, the dollar volume of loans rated below “pass,” as a percentage of total loans, remains elevated compared with levels experienced in prior economic cycles, according to the Shared National Credit (SNC) Program Review.
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The massive, popular demonstrations which have taken place in Venezuela over the last days have been met with indiscriminate violence from the authorities, leading to the tragic death of numerous people and many more injured and arrested. The European Union firmly condemns these actions and offers its deep condolences to the families of the deceased.
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