by Alex Movchan
We recently conducted another interview with Olga Lukashenko who is an Audit Director at Reanda Netherlands. The first interview that was conducted with this special woman can be found on our platform under related items, which was about planning and executing audit engagements during the Covid-19 crisis. This particular talk with Olga covers the topic of conducting audit engagements in regions with a high level of exposure to fraud and corruption. Continue reading…
On 23 June 2020, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a written statement in which he announced plans on the update of prudential requirements in several areas of the financial sector. Regarding Solvency II, the Chancellor made it clear that the UK will review certain features of the regime. Rishi Sunak mentioned the risk margin, the matching adjustment, the operation of internal models and the reporting requirement for insurers. The statement added that this list was not limited. It should be noted that, after all, Solvency II was very much inspired by the UK’s prudential regime. The list of the items the European Commission plans to consider in its first major Solvency II review exercise is much longer and overlaps gently with the hitherto limited list of the British Chancellor, eager “to take back control of the rules governing our world-leading financial services sector”. In a recent webinar, Didier Millerot, head of the Insurance and Pensions Unit of the European Commission mentioned as areas: the risk margin, the long term guarantee measures – the reason why the 2020 review after all was planned in the Omnibus II amendments of 2014 – and proportionality. But he also mentioned many other points such as the recovery and resolution process, a minimum level of national insurance guarantee schemes’ harmonisation, cross-border supervisory quality and supervisory cooperation – important in a cross-border freedom of services situation for the reputation of the Single Market -, green assets and the contribution of the insurance sector to the new sustainable economy. Nobody can be jealous of such a long list of items on which the Commission will have to ponder carefully whether to propose amendments and how. Continue reading…
by Michel Klompmaker
We have decided to publish a series of articles entitled “Lockdown or Knock-out?” on this platform. We will discuss and comment on the current measures taken by the various governments, economic forecasts from experts and expectations of politicians from the perspective of risk & compliance. We are just going to start and as long as there is no vaccine for the coronavirus, we will regularly discuss the issues that are worthwhile. Today we start with the recent news about lending to business customers in the Netherlands. On the one hand, we see a decrease in the number of infections and deaths, but what does this actually mean for the economy if we put it in a somewhat broader perspective? Is there reason for optimism? We would like to spread the optimistic sound, but we cannot ignore the facts and that they are not good. Did circumstances leave no other choice or have the banks and the responsible minister switched to a form of Russian roulette? ING announced yesterday that it expects to triple the number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands next year. And in the meantime, since the outbreak of the corona crisis, the Dutch banking sector has provided additional credit of around EUR 14 billion. As a result, the percentage of gross national product corporate debt (IMF source) has risen again to over 150 percent. For the critical down-to-earth reviews, who like to make dismissive statements about the financial policy of the so called “garlic countries”: Italian corporate debts are in percentage at over 60 percent of the gross national product. Continue reading…
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have recently published a report entitled Central counterparty default management auctions – Issues for consideration. The report outlines certain issues that central counterparties (CCPs) should consider regarding default management auctions processes. It also identifies practices that CCPs could consider in the development and improvement of default management auctions to address those issues. Continue reading…
Founded in 1990, Objectway is a fast-growing international player providing financial software and digital solutions for banking, securities and insurance. Objectway is a Top 100 global FinTech provider and a leader in the Wealth, Investment & Asset Management Software Industry. This year, they have been launching a series of webinars on the topic “Practical Strategies for Digital Client Engagement”. Continue reading…
The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has recently published for public consultation an evaluation of too-big-to-fail (TBTF) reforms for systemically important banks. The TBTF reforms were endorsed by the G20 in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and have been implemented in FSB jurisdictions over the past decade. The evaluation examines the extent to which the reforms are reducing the systemic and moral hazard risks associated with systemically important banks, as well as their broader effects on the financial system. Continue reading…
The BIS is releasing a chapter of this year’s Annual Economic Report in advance entitled “Central banks and payments in the digital era”. This special chapter of the Annual Economic Report, on central banks and payments in the digital era, analyses the implications of the radical transformation of payment systems over recent years. It also looks at the impact of Covid-19 on payment behaviour. The following areas of interest that will be specifically addressed in this chapter are:
Rapid reshaping of payment services requires central banks to keep evolving as they support the safety and integrity of the payment system; Changes that are generating interest in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which deserve consideration as additional means of payment; and Covid-19 spurring contactless payments while highlighting shortcomings in payment systems, especially for the poor and unbanked.
by Francesco Salerno
This is the second part in a series of two articles written by me about government control of investments in strategic enterprises following the Covid-19 outbreak. The first part can be found in the related items section. Taking into account the guidance outlined in the first part and to guard against the risks of predatory acquisitions of strategic national enterprises, various European countries, including Italy, France, Spain and Germany, have taken action with regard to the screening of foreign direct investments. Continue reading…
by Francesco Salerno
This article is the first of two parts written by me concerning governmental control of investments in strategic enterprises following the Covid-19 pandemic. The articles will be published on two consecutive days. The Covid-19 outbreak has been followed by a raft of measures to lessen its impact on the world of production. Indeed, the majority of countries have intervened in various branches of the law ‒ starting with contract, company and insolvency/bankruptcy rules ‒ with the stated intent of supporting the economy. Among the many other forms of intervention, changes have been made to the rules on the control of companies operating in strategic sectors. This is because companies often tumble in value in crisis situations, making it easier for them to be snapped up “cheaply”: hence the special attention paid to rules that give governments the power to control investments in strategic enterprises. Continue reading…
ING announced today that Steven van Rijswijk, currently member of the Executive Board and chief risk officer of ING, will succeed Ralph Hamers as CEO and chairman of the Executive Board. The Supervisory Board has appointed Steven van Rijswijk effective 1 July 2020. As announced earlier, Ralph Hamers will leave ING to join UBS, where he will become CEO later in the year. Steven van Rijswijk was appointed to the Executive Board at the Annual General Meeting of shareholders in 2017. Steven joined ING in 1995 and held various positions in the Mergers & Acquisitions, Equity Capital Markets and Capital Structuring and Advisory teams. In 2012 he was appointed global head of Corporate Clients. He became global head of Client Coverage at ING Wholesale Banking in 2014, being responsible for relationship management, transaction services and corporate finance for corporate clients and financial institutions in over 40 countries.
Continue reading…
1
The message is clear: organisations must be held accountable for their social and environmental footprint. Therefore, it’s inevitable that speaking up becomes the next social…
Download whitepaperEconomic uncertainty has driven the perfect storm of interlocking risks described in last year’s Risk in Focus in new directions in 2023. Organisations are now…
Download whitepaperLieve LowetEU Affairs consultant and lobbyist
Elina Karpacheva Chair of the European Compliance Centre based in Sofia, Bulgaria
Ahsan HabibSenior Analyst, AML Operations
Michael AmadoLawyer in Paris / Lawyer in Canada
Alex MovchanAlex Movchan CIA CICA CFE is the President of the Institute for Internal Controls - Central and Eastern Europe
Elena PykhovaElena Pykhova is a thought leader, influencer and founder of a think tank, Best Practice Operational Risk Forum. 
Daniel VaknineCEO and Partner of Visslan
Nancy MehradAuthor and the CEO and Founder of Registrant Law Professional Corporation
Ajay KataraConsulting Partner and Head the RegTech Portfolio in Banking Risk Management area at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
