The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has announced that it is seeking views on how technology can make it easier for firms to meet their regulatory reporting requirements and improve the quality of the information they provide. The FCA regularly explores how technology can make our regulations more efficient and reduce the regulatory burden on firms. One of the ways we do this is through ‘TechSprints’ that bring together financial services providers, technology companies and subject matter experts to develop solutions to regulatory challenges.
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The paper ‘An explanation of negative swap spreads: demand for duration from underfunded pension plans’ of the BIS, examines the reasons for the persistent negative 30-year swap spread. Because of the credit risk implicit in Libor, swap rates should exceed the (theoretical) risk-free rate and rise when bank credit risk increases. Further, Treasuries (against which swap spreads are computed) are “safe haven” assets whose yields fall during a crisis, so that they trade at a liquidity premium. On this basis, the 30-year swap spread should have increased after the Lehman default. Yet, instead, it declined into negative territory. This we seek to explain.

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The aim of the GDPR is to protect all EU citizens from privacy and data breaches in an increasingly data-driven world that is vastly different from the time in which the 1995 directive was established. Although the key principles of data privacy still hold true to the previous directive, many changes have been proposed to the regulatory policies; the key points of the GDPR as well as information on the impacts it will have on business can be found below.
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Kenny van Ierlant

The digital transformation prompted by rapidly changing business models, as part of the chain reversal, has already turned the world upside down. Numerous companies and governments (organizations) have invested heavily in the digitization of their business processes as part of the chain reversal by automating non-automated processes in order to save heavily on the costs of labor to benefit the shareholders! The premise that this approach will lead to “agility” and lower cost-income ratios will not materialize the majority of case. This digitization also reveals a great sociological problem, namely that top management has no idea how such a transformation should be implemented. The lack of essential knowledge at the top level is a guarantee for many accidents and destruction of shareholder value.
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The Bank for International settlement (BIS) develop a stylised shadow banking map for China with the aim of providing a coherent picture of its structure and the associated financial system interlinkages. Five key characteristics emerge. One defining feature of the shadow banking system in China is the dominant role of commercial banks, true to the adage that shadow banking in China is the “shadow of the banks”. Moreover, it differs from shadow banking in the United States in that securitisation and market-based instruments play only a limited role.

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Illegal money lender, Dharam Prakash Gopee (64), was sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment by a Judge in Southwark Crown Court after guilty verdicts for offences under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. In addition to this custodial sentence, Mr Gopee has been issued with a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO), which will severely restrict his ability to carry out this type of crime in the future.  This is the first time the Financial Conduct Authority has sought such an order, which underlines the seriousness of his conduct.

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The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will work even more closely together to help strengthen the expertise and skills of financial regulators and supervisors, particularly in the context of implementing the post-crisis financial reforms and dealing with emerging issues such as financial technology, the heads of each of organisation said.

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The presentation of the annual results 2017 will take place on Thursday 15 February 2018 during a press conference at De Meentboerderij, Melkmeent 9 in Hilversum. The press conference starts at 10.00. You can sign up via pressoffice@rabobank.nl of +31 (0)30-2162758.
Rabobank CEO Wiebe Draijer and CFO Bas Brouwers will also explain the developments in the financial sector. Journalists are cordially invited to attend the press conference and to ask questions afterwards. The press release and the annual figures will be published on www.rabobank.com/jaarverslagen at 7.30 am. The press conference can be viewed from 12.30 pm via this website.

At a media webinar, 09.00 AM CET, Wiebe Draijer and Bas Brouwers will present the interim results and discuss current developments in the financial sector. In addition Rabobank will host an English webinar for analysts and institutional investors at 2.00 PM CET.

Source: https://www.rabobank.com/

The trial of Dharam Prakash Gopee concluded today at Southwark Crown Court with the jury returning a guilty verdict to the charges brought by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for offences under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Mr Gopee described himself as “a lender of last resort” and engaged with consumers who were often vulnerable and in difficult circumstances. He regularly registered charges over the homes of borrowers to enable him to take possession of a property if the borrower failed to pay the debt.

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 JPMorgan Chase announced that it’s giving pay raises to 22,000 US employees who work in its branches and customer service centers as part of a $20 billion investment in the business that’s connected to the company’s tax windfall.
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