The Singapore government has made significant changes to the rules governing companies, further enhancing the country’s reputation as a good place to do business. The Companies (Amendment) Act 2017 was passed in Parliament in March last year. Some of the changes took effect from March 2017. These include locally-incorporated companies and foreign companies registered in Singapore having to maintain a register of registrable controllers. In addition, Singapore incorporated companies must now keep a register of nominee directors. There’s also no longer a requirement for companies to use a common seal.
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Greece has successfully concluded a three year stability support programme with its place at the heart of the euro area and European Union secured. Greece has successfully concluded a three year European Stability Mechanism (ESM) stability support programme with its place at the heart of the euro area and European Union secured. The successful conclusion of the programme is a testament to the efforts of the Greek people, the country’s commitment to reform, and the solidarity of its European partners.
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This article outlines he EDPS on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on strengthening the security of identity cards of Union citizens and of residence documents issued to Union citizens and their family members exercising their right of free movement. In this context, the EDPS observes that the Commission has clearly chosen to prioritise the free movement aspects of the Proposal and to treat the security-related objective as corollary. The EDPS remarks that this might have an impact on the analysis of necessity and proportionality of the elements of the Proposal.
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has, in collaboration with 11 financial regulators and related organisations, today announced the creation of the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN), building on the FCA’s proposal earlier this year to create a ‘global sandbox’. The network will seek to provide a more efficient way for innovative firms to interact with regulators, helping them navigate between countries as they look to scale new ideas. It will also create a new framework for co-operation between financial services regulators on innovation related topics, sharing different experiences and approaches. Continue reading…

Banking supervision in the euro area has just marked another important milestone towards achieving a more consistent approach to supervising banks. From this year onwards, a common methodology will be applied to the annual supervisory assessment of all euro area banks, including the smaller ones, operating within the Single Supervision Mechanism framework. These smaller banks – known as less significant institutions (LSIs) – are not directly supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB) but by the national competent authorities (NCAs) of the 19 member countries of the euro area. Their assessment, the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP), is a core activity of ECB Banking Supervision and is conducted, with the necessary proportionality, by the NCAs.
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All Department of Financial Services (DFS) Regulated Financial Services Companies Are Required to Comply with Regulation’s Governance Policies and Procedures, as Well as Risk Based Monitoring Systems Requirements and Encryption Programs for Nonpublic Information by September 4, 2018. Financial Services Superintendent Maria T. Vullo reminded all Department of Financial Services (DFS) regulated entities covered by DFS’s landmark cybersecurity regulation that the third transitional period of New York’s first-in-the-nation cybersecurity regulation ends on September 4, 2018. Beginning on September 4, 2018, banks, insurance companies, and other financial services institutions regulated by DFS are required to have come into compliance with several additional provisions of the cybersecurity regulation that are vital to the governance and components of a robust financial services cybersecurity program.
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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has made available new data for bonds subject to the pre- and post-trade requirements of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and Regulation (MiFIR) through its data register. ESMA has started, since July 30, to make available the second quarterly liquidity assessment for bonds. For this period, there are currently 466 liquid bonds subject to MiFID II transparency requirements. However, this assessment, which is dependent on the data submitted to ESMA, experienced data quality issues. The content of the non-equity file has now been updated, by removing the affected instruments.
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published 12 indicators and updated the underlying data from the 35 largest institutions in the EU, whose leverage ratio exposure measure exceeds EUR 200 bn. This end-2017 data contributes to the internationally agreed basis on which a smaller subset of banks will be identified as global systemically important institutions (G-SIIs), following the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) final assessments. The EBA, acting as a central data hub in the disclosure process, will update this data on a yearly basis and will provide a user-friendly platform to aggregate it across the EU. Continue reading…

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) today announced exclusions from the accountancy profession for three former executives of AssetCo plc, after a Disciplinary Tribunal found they had committed Misconduct in relation to the preparation and approval of the company’s financial statements for the financial years ended 31 March 2009 and 31 March 2010. Continue reading…

During the almost three years on office, former boss Cryan cleaned up most of the toxic lagacy of Deutche’s pre-financial crisis bid to compete with global investment banking giants, in part by paying billions in fines and compensation. But he failed to drag the bank back into positive numbers. On top of that President Trump’s corporate tax reform is the mail reason of the bigger than expected net loss of € 735 million in 2017, reported the Deutche Bank. Begin 2018 some investors wanted supervisory board chairman Achleitner to look for a new top manager.
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