FROM THE MEDIA

Bloomberg: ECB to focus on banks’ bad loan risks, search for yield in 2022

The European Central Bank (ECB) said its supervision arm will focus its scrutiny in the coming three years on risks that lenders face from a potential spike in bad loans and their search for higher returns, Bloomberg reports. The ECB will monitor “the build-up of unmitigated risks” in leveraged finance and banks’ “strict adherence” to guidance. It will also conduct on-site inspections to look at how banks are managing counterparty credit risk, including in prime brokerage and leveraged loans. Read more

Reuters: No need now for ECB to boost legacy bond purchase scheme

Eurozone inflation could exceed the European Central Bank (ECB)'s forecast in the long term, so there is no reason now to boost a legacy bond purchase program when an emergency scheme ends next March, ECB policymaker Madis Muller to Reuters. Read more

S&P Global: European banks' payout ratio rises amid 'catch-up' dividends, buybacks

European banks are expected to carry out dividend payments and share buybacks representing 74.8% of 2020 earnings this year as they catch up on pandemic-linked delays to distributions, according to the European Banking Authority (EBA)'s annual risk assessment. S&P Global points out that the EBA's risk assessment covered 120 banks across 25 countries in the European Economic Area, excluding the U.K. Read more

MAIN EVENTS

• Council Financial Services Committee

• ESRB Fifth annual conference

• Basel Institute on Governance, INTERPOL and Europol '5th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptocurrencies' event

• PIIE ‘Lessons learned on corporate credit risk during the COVID-19 pandemic’ event

• POLITICO ‘What to expect from the French presidency on climate and energy’ event

• Blockchain Finance Forum Europe

For a full-year overview of key financial regulation events: click here

FROM THE EBF MEMBERS

NVB: Keep working on reliable data to assess climate risks

Banks believe sustainability risks should become an integral part of regular supervision and they are working to integrate climate risks into their strategy, governance, risk management, and reporting, the Dutch Banking Association (NVB) says. While there is a lack of consistent and reliable data which makes the measurement of sustainability risks difficult, banks use estimates and models to gain insight into climate risks. However, they have concerns about the comparability and robustness of the estimates. Read more (NL)

BdB: Creating an overview of sustainable regulation

In hardly any other area of ​​finance, there is so much movement as in the area of ​​sustainable finance. Numerous legislative initiatives, industry-wide standards, and relevant reports result in several nooks being pulled at the same time. The Association of German Banks (BdB) has designed a “Sustainable Finance Heat Map” to serve as a guide. Read more (DE)

Febelfin: More diversity on the stage thanks to Inclusive Panels 

'Inclusive Panels' is an initiative aiming for a better mix of gender, origin, and age in panels at all kinds of events in Belgium. It is the result of a unique collaboration between Women in Finance, Women on Board, DMAB members (Diversity Managers Association Belgium), and various gender experts, with Febelfin as a supporting partner. Both companies and individual speakers can sign a charter in which they commit themselves to pay more attention to balanced panels. Read more (FR)

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS

EIOPA: Sustainable finance Roundtable

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions (EIOPA) is organizing its 5th Sustainable Finance Roundtable which gathers representatives from supervisors, industry, consumer organizations, and academia to discuss society’s resilience to sustainability risks, the role of insurers, and pensions and EIOPA’s work in this area. On this occasion, EIOPA announced its three-year plan to integrate sustainable finance across all areas of its own work. Read more

ECOFIN Council: Banking Union and Financial Markets

At the ECOFIN Council, members discussed the Slovenian Presidency’s Banking Union progress report. Vice-President Dombrovskis said that a complete banking union could facilitate an increase in citizens’ trust while better integration of the sector will lead to greater financing of the real economy. Besides, European Finance Ministers, alongside Commissioner McGuinness, have taken part in a policy discussion in regard to the Commission’s Capital Markets Union package. Read more

ECB: Consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published the weekly consolidated financial statement of the Eurosystem. This provides the public with information on the Eurosystem’s monetary policy operations, foreign exchange operations, and investment activities. Read more

FROM THE EBF

European Banking Social Partners Commit to a Common Understanding on Remote Work

The European Banking Social Partners signed a Joint Declaration on Remote Work and New Technologies. The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the constantly increasing use of digitalised systems and processes led the Social Partners to reassess and appropriately update the approach to remote work in the European Banking sector. Read more

EBF response to CR 03/2021: Application of the Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures to Stablecoin Arrangements

The European Banking Federation (EBF) has responded to the joint consultation from the Committee on Payments and Markets Infrastructure (CPMI) and the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) on the Application of the Principles for Financial Markets. Read more

EBF Vacancies: Work with us!

Visit our Vacancies page to learn more about the opening positions at the EBF. Read more

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European Banking Federation