EBF WEEKLY + FINANCIAL REGULATION AGENDA
for the week starting Monday 31 January 2022

An overview of the main financial regulation and banking stories this week and a look ahead to key events for the upcoming week, brought to you by the European Banking Federation

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ESAs high-level conference on financial education and literacy

FINANCIAL REGULATION AGENDA for next week

Monday 31 January

• Council Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Financial Services)

• Council Working Party on Tax Questions (Indirect Taxation)

• French Council presidency 'Conference on economic empowerment, key to gender equality' event

• Association of German Banks ‘Achieving an open and globally competitive European financial market’ event

Tuesday 1 February

• Council Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Financial Services)

• European Parliament Subcommittee on Tax Matters

• Council Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues

• WTO Informal Committee on Market Access

• EIB Board of Directors’ seminar with civil society

• ESAs 'Consumers in financial services: How to enhance their financial education?' high-level conference

• Chatham House ‘Sustainable finance and digital innovation’ event

• EBF Corporate Income Tax WG online meeting

Wednesday 2 February

• Council Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Financial Services)

• Council Financial Services Committee

• European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

• EIB Board of Directors meeting

• ESAs 'Consumers in financial services: How to enhance their financial education?' high-level conference

• EURACTIV 'An effective digital markets act - what balance will achieve certainty for all stakeholders?' event

• EBF ESG Risk TF online meeting

Thursday 3 February

• Council Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Financial Services)

• European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

• Masters of Digital 'Europe's digital moment' Summit

• ECIPE 'China – Is it Still Open for Business?' webinar

• SUERF 'Macroeconomic models for monetary policy: State of play and way forward' event

Friday 4 February

• Council Working Party on Financial Services and the Banking Union (Financial Services)

• Council Working party on Tax Questions (High Level)

• Council Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues

• EBF Retail Committee online meeting

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

FROM THE MEDIA

Bloomberg: EU banks to opt-out of certain elements of the taxonomy

The European Investment Bank (EIB) may steer clear of proposals to put a green label on gas and nuclear projects, according to EIB President Werner Hoyer. This highlights how major banks and investors could choose to opt out of certain elements of the taxonomy. According to Bloomberg, the danger for the EU is that it creates a two-speed model for its environmental finance plans. Read more

Finextra: ECB to run climate risk stress test

As reported by Finextra, the European Central Bank (ECB) has launched a climate risk stress test to assess how prepared banks are for dealing with financial and economic shocks stemming from global warming. Although the test does not have direct implications for banks’ capital levels, it could indirectly impact Pillar 2 requirements through the Supervisory Risk and Evaluation Process (SREP) scores. Read more

Reuters: European banks eye comeback against Wall Street

Replenished firepower and higher interest rates will give Europe's banks an ideal opportunity to reverse recent underperformance and claw back market share from rivals in the United States. Rising rates, surplus capital offer signs of hope for Europe, Reuters says. Read more.

FROM EBF MEMBERS

Finance Finland: Financial competence and digital skills are intertwined

In her speech at the opening of the Bank of Finland's Financial Literacy Centre, Finance Minister Annika Saarikko emphasized the link between digital and financial skills, Finance Finland reports. "Financial literacy is a civic skill that must be made available to all Finns on an equal basis", she says. Read more (FI)

Finance Norway: Financial institutions less exposed to climate risk

A survey of climate risk shows that Norwegian financial institutions are less exposed to sectors that will be largely affected by climate change. "The great interest in participating in the mapping of climate risk using the Paris Agreement Capital Transition Assessment (PACTA) tool shows that Norwegian companies have sustainability high on the agenda", says Agathe Schjetlein, Director of Sustainability at Finance Norway. Read more (NO)

ABI: Value of loan requests rises to around 223 billion euro

According to the Italian Banking Association (ABI), requests for guarantees for new bank loans for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) submitted to the SME Guarantee Fund has risen to around €223 billion, and the volumes of guaranteed loans through SACE's 'Guarantee Italy' reached €32.4 billion. Read more (IT)

FROM THE INSTITUTIONS

ESAs welcome ESRB Recommendation for a pan-European systemic cyber incident coordination framework

The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published a statement welcoming the European Systemic Risk Board’s (ESRB) Recommendation on systemic cyber risk, which calls on the ESAs to prepare for the gradual development of a Pan-European systemic cyber incident coordination framework (EU-SCICF). This will support an effective and coordinated response at the EU level in the event of a major cross-border cyber incident that could have a systemic impact on the Union’s financial sector. Read more

ESMA: Consultation on CCP anti-procyclicality measures

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launches a consultation paper to review the European Market Infrastructure Regulation’s (EMIR) requirements on anti-procyclicality (APC) margin measures for central counterparties (CCPs). Read more

ECB: Euro area economic and financial developments by sector

The European Central Bank (ECB) has released statistics on the Euro area's economic and financial developments by institutional sector for the third quarter of 2021. The Euro area net saving increased to €776 billion in the four quarters to the third quarter of 2021, compared with €714 billion in the four quarters to the previous quarter. Read more

FROM THE EBF  this week

ABOUT THE EUROPEAN BANKING FEDERATION
 

The European Banking Federation is the voice of the European banking sector, bringing together national banking associations from across Europe. The federation is committed to a thriving European economy that is underpinned by a stable, secure and inclusive financial ecosystem, and to a flourishing society where financing is available to fund the dreams of citizens, businesses and innovators everywhere. Website: www.ebf.eu

European Banking Federation