Delta Lloyd N.V. (‘Delta Lloyd’) and Fubon Financial Holding Co. (‘Fubon’) have agreed to continue their discussions regarding forming an enhanced partnership. Delta Lloyd is also pleased with the announcement of Fubon of its commitment to exercise all the rights in respect of its shareholding (c.7% of Delta Lloyd’s share capital) and to vote in favour of the proposed rights issue at today’s EGM.
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With many advanced economies struggling with secular stagnation, the global economy is likely to see continued subdued growth in 2016 and 2017, despite the boost from low oil prices, low interest rates and less drag from Emerging Markets. In the Nordics Sweden continues to outperform. In a new economic forecast Nordea expects a 3.1 per cent increase in world GDP in 2016 and a 3.2 per cent increase next year.

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Damian Clarke, a former equities trader at Schroders Investment Management Limited, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to nine counts of insider trading. He will be sentenced on 13 June 2016.  Mr Clarke pleaded guilty to seven counts of insider dealing on 24 July 2015, and today (15 March) has pleaded guilty to the remaining two counts. 
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Today the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision published reports assessing the implementation of the Basel risk-based capital framework and the Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) for Russia and Turkey. These form part of a series of reports on Basel Committee members’ implementation of Basel standards under the Committee’s Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP). A key component of the RCAP is to assess the consistency and completeness of a jurisdiction’s adopted standards and the significance of any deviations from the regulatory framework. The RCAP does not take account of a jurisdiction’s bank supervision practices nor does it evaluate the adequacy of regulatory capital and high-quality liquid assets for individual banks or a banking system as a whole.

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Adriaan Kom

What happens when VimpelCom, the world’s sixth-largest telecommunications company, collides with the daughter of the Uzbekistan president and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ)? The answer is $795 million in Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and global anti-bribery, anti-corruption-related fines and penalties.
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The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided today to launch a new series of four targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO II). The new operations will offer attractive long-term funding conditions to banks to further ease private sector credit conditions and to stimulate credit creation. TLTRO II is intended to reinforce the ECB’s accommodative monetary policy stance and to strengthen the transmission of monetary policy by further incentivising bank lending to the real economy. In conjunction with the other non-standard measures in place, TLTRO II will contribute to a return of inflation rates to levels below, but close to, 2% over the medium term. 
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The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is currently assessing applications for authorisation from all debt management firms with interim permission. Firms that were previously regulated by the Office of Fair Trading have been operating with interim permission since responsibility for consumer credit transferred to the FCA on 1 April 2014. There are approximately 400,000 people on commercial debt management plans in the UK.

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Today, KYCnet announced that they have joined the Equiniti Group. The Equiniti Group plc is a leading provider of technology led solutions to clients with complex and regulated administration needs.
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The Senior Managers Regime for the banking sector and the Senior Insurance Managers Regime both come into force today. The new regimes will hold individuals working at all levels within relevant firms to appropriate standards of conduct and ensure that senior managers are held to account for misconduct that falls within their area of responsibility. 
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Arjen van Berkum

Recently I wrote a blog on the top 15 jobs most likely to disappear. Quite a few readers asked me why bankers were not on that list. A valid and logical question. Technology is changing fast and the possibilities tech solutions bring us are innumerable, but still the world is not ready yet for an economic paradigm without bankers. Unfortunately, I might add. Fintech has set in the unbundling of banking, but are not making banks obsolete (yet). Is it in the first place because money exists? Because our payment infrastructure is too complex to disrupt? Here’s why it will take longer for banker jobs to become extinct.

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