by Muel Kaptein

In times of crisis, we have high expectations of our business leaders. We want our business leaders to take their responsibility, make decisions and resolve dilemmas. At such times, the main quality business leaders must possess is a willingness to get their hands dirty, because they will be asked to make decisions that will harm people, no matter what they decide. Experts have listed in the media many qualities business leaders should display in these times of crisis. Now more than ever, business leaders must have faith in their employees who are working from home, show empathy and be humble, focused and self-confident. Other experts tell us that business leaders should now be purpose driven, accountable and long-term oriented. It is true that all these qualities are relevant, but they would seem to suggest that being a leader in these times mainly requires one to focus on slightly different things than usual. After all, aren’t all the aforementioned qualities vital in normal times, too? If we wish to steer our business leaders in the right direction, we must do justice to the situation in which they currently find themselves, i.e. a crisis.
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by Dina-Perla Portnaar

Rewire enhances its end-to-end neobanking service for migrants with new functionalities, putting users and their daily needs at the forefront, especially in times of COVID-19. Immigrants are now offered free local transfers from and to any European country and a free virtual and physical MasterCard. Digital banking for migrants has never been so easy, transparent and accessible from any device. Rewire is now providing free local transfers to all IBAN accounts in Europe, aiming for cross-border, Pan-European financial inclusion. The service via the Rewire app is simple and just takes a few steps to complete the transfer. Also, migrants can use this service anywhere and anytime. Moreover, the transfer is credited within up to one business day. The bank account of the receiver does not have to be a Rewire account in order to get the money.  Continue reading…

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) today published a report delivered to the G20 on international cooperation and coordination to address the financial stability implications from COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic represents the biggest test of the post-crisis financial system to date. The global financial system faces the dual challenge to sustain the flow of credit amidst declining growth and manage heightened risks. Nevertheless, the global financial system is more resilient and better placed to sustain financing to the real economy as a result of the G20 regulatory reforms in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis. Continue reading…

It is clear that one of the most severely affected sectors is the global aviation sector. How will this go and how far will the government’s financial aid go to keep the strategically important airlines figuratively and literally in the air? Not to mention the measures that are likely to come our way. A valid passport and a paid flight ticket will no longer be a guarantee that you can get on board a flight. And will half of the passenger seats disappear to the cargo hold soon? Food for thought for trend watchers, doomsday prophets and economists, but for now the hard reality is that about 90 percent of the fleet of many airlines is parked neatly on the ground. We will go through the situation with you of any airline we know, KLM, but what is mentioned below may apply to any other airline. Continue reading…

Prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, large active banks operating on an international scale made more progress towards satisfying the Basel III capital requirements. Their liquidity ratios remained stable in comparison to the ratios reported in the end of 2018, but there is a need to increase the operational capacity of banks and supervisors to adequately respond to the pandemic. The Basel Committee has made a decision to not collect Basel III monitoring data for the end June 2020 reporting date set. Continue reading…

Michel Klompmaker

The US-based insurer Lemonade is now entering the Dutch market. This so-called “disrupter” within the insurance market does it just that little bit different than the traditional insurers. This new player simply reserves a fixed amount for costs and profits. The rest of the premium money goes to the payment of claims and what remains afterwards is donated to charities policyholders choose. Not for nothing is the company the only insurer in the Benelux with an international B-Corp label. The company is driven by social impact and bases its models on behavioral economics and artificial intelligence. We recently spoke to Daniel Schreiber – CEO of Lemonade, whose European headquarters is in Amsterdam.  Continue reading…

Michel Klompmaker

The discussion during the video consultation between the EU finance ministers under supervision of Mário Centeno last night and tonight has not yet produced any concrete results. Consultations will resume on Thursday, but the damage that has already been done is significant. The aim of the consultation is the understandable call for Eurobonds from the southern EU states. This call is getting louder and more logical given the extent to which the economic consequences of the corona crisis hit in those countries. But there is fierce resistance, especially from the Netherlands. The Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra got the anger on his neck from the southern countries with some blunt statements.
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It is now about ten years ago that Greece received a loan of 110 billion euros from the European countries (with the exception of Slovakia) and the IMF. Europe signed for EUR 80 billion and the IMF for EUR 30 billion, but under strict conditions. All this was due to the enormous anger in 2009 when it appeared that the Greek government, in particular the Ministry of Finance, had systematically published far too rosy figures for the budget deficit. The situation has improved in 2020, and the Greek government can once again operate independently on the capital market, but the ordinary Greek is still experiencing the consequences of the interventions of the imposed measures. The question nowadays, of course, is how the consequences of the current corona crisis relate to the agreements made. Read, therefore, the interview with Isabel Schnabel, Board Member of the ECB. The interview was conducted by Mr Angelos Athanaspoulos and appeared in the Greek daily newspaper, To Vima on April 4.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has a global impact and significantly affects entities and their auditors. Whilst auditors have to comply fully with required standards, the Committee of European Audit Oversight Bodies (CEAOB) wishes to emphasise certain challenges that auditors are facing due to the unprecedented scale of the outbreak, which could have an adverse effect on audit quality. CEAOB acknowledges the ESMA statement on the accounting implications of the current situation on the calculation of expected credit losses under IFRS9 as well as the statement by ESMA on the recommended actions by financial market participants, in particular those about disclosure and financial reporting.   Continue reading…

The Basel Committee’s oversight body, the Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (GHOS), has endorsed a set of measures to provide additional operational capacity for banks and supervisors to respond to the immediate financial stability priorities resulting from the impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on the global banking system. “It is important that banks and supervisors are able to commit their full resources to respond to the impact of Covid-19. This includes providing critical services to the real economy and ensuring that the banking system remains financially and operationally resilient. The measures endorsed by GHOS today aim to prioritise these objectives and we remain ready to act further if necessary,” said François Villeroy de Galhau, Chairman of the GHOS and Governor of the Bank of France. 
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