Delta Lloyd NV recently announced the sale of its German life business to Athene Holding Ltd. (“Athene”). Athene is a Bermuda-based insurance holding company and, through its subsidiaries, is a leading provider of products in the retirement savings market in the USA. In 2010, Delta Lloyd’s German life business stopped selling new business and has since been in run-off.
The real danger lying in wait for the commercial banks is the low level of interest rates which, combined with risk limitation requirements, curbs their potential profitability. Moreover, the banks are facing major operational challenges, as they have to bear the operating costs of two retail channels (physical and digital) at a time of recession.
Recently the German newspaper Handelsblatt had an interesting interview with Mario Draghi, President of the ECB about the future of Europe.
Last December the Council formally appointed the Chair, the Vice-Chair and the four other permanent members of the Single Resolution Board. This concludes a recruitment process which started in July 2014. The methodology for calculating banks’ contributions to the Single Resolution Fund was also been adopted. Continue reading…
The euro entered circulation in Lithuania today, bringing the number of European Union (EU) Member States using the single European currency to 19. “On behalf of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank, I welcome this further enlargement of the euro area. Lithuania has taken exceptional measures in difficult times to reach its goal of joining the single currency,” Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, said.
The Basel Committee is considering replacing references to external ratings, as used in the current standardised approach, with a limited number of risk drivers that provide a meaningful differentiation for risk. These alternative risk drivers vary based on the particular type of exposure and have been selected on the basis that they are simple, intuitive, readily available and capable of explaining risk across jurisdictions. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has released recently a consultative document on Revisions to the Standardised Approach for credit risk.
Alternative payments are the most active and complex ecosystem in financial services today. A quick look at AngelList recently showed a bewildering 1,477 payments startups. These include many familiar names like Square (m-POS) and The Currency Cloud (international payments) to newer entrants such as Coin Drive (stored value exchange), OpenCuro (secure payments), and niche players like LeaguePals (which bills itself as the “PayPal of League Bowling”). 238 of these start-ups are providing various services around cryptocurrencies, including 134 companies focused on Bitcoin. Continue reading…
The Bank of England recently published an independent report by former Federal Reserve Board Governor Kevin Warsh, following his review of the Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) transparency practices and procedures. The Bank also announced a series of significant transparency, accountability and governance enhancements designed to put the Bank at the forefront of international best practice and enhance its ability to fulfil its mission to promote the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability. Continue reading…
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The MoU establishes cooperation arrangements between the signatory authorities regarding Central Counterparties (CCPs) that are established in Australia and have applied for recognition under EMIR. The MoU is effective as of 27 November 2014.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) recently (30 November 2014) announced the results of its EU – wide Insurance Stress Test. The exercise aimed to test the overall resilience of the insurance sector and to identify its major vulnerabilities. Continue reading…
Lieve LowetEU Affairs consultant and lobbyist
Elina Karpacheva Chair of the European Compliance Centre based in Sofia, Bulgaria
Ahsan HabibManager, AML Investigation - Correspondent Banking, Royal Bank of Canada
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)
Introduction Aware of the ins and outs of the CSRD in one day During this practical day, you will learn everything about the CSRD quickly…
The EIB, the European Union’s bank, is seeking to recruit for its Group Risk & Compliance Directorate – Regulation and EIB Group Risk Department –…
Language:English
ISBN:9791280623188
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The book introduces the key elements contributing to entrepreneurial vitality and sustainability in the medium and long term with a specific focus on digital transformation….