On 12 March, the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), ECB’s supervisory arm, and the European Banking Authority (EBA) announced measures to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the EU banking sector. The two bodies linked their capital relief for banks with expectations “to use the positive effects coming from these measures to support the economy and […]
Corona crisis: KfW loans for Italian SMEs would show European solidarity
A solidarity loan of the German promotional bank KfW to the Italian promotional bank is intended to support liquidity aid for small and medium-sized enterprises in Italy which has been particularly hard hit by the Corona crisis. A volume of 1 billion euros would be a first step. This is the gist of a joint […]
New action plan to combat money laundering: EU Commission is sending the right signal but is falling behind expectations
In view of blatant shortcomings in the fight against criminal money, the European Commission is working on a new action plan on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing in the EU. While the release initially scheduled for 25 March could be postponed due to the Corona crisis, a leak of the Commission draft action plan […]
Coronavirus Crisis/Eurozone: Governments must commit to ESM credit lines without new austerity programmes
To cushion the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis, the ECB, the European Commission, and the German government among others have announced far-reaching monetary and fiscal policy measures. The ECB intends to support the real economy with favourable credit lines for banks and an expansion of the bond purchase programme. In addition, capital requirements for […]
Documentation: Breakfast “Money laundering and financial crime”
Dear friends, Dear interested, The European Commission is set to publish a new action plan to combat money laundering on 25 March. The action plan is to be followed by long overdue legislative proposals. Today, at a joint event in the European Parliament, together with Wim Mijs, Chief Executive Officer of the European Banking Federation […]
Classification of sustainable investments: Macron blocks heart of green financial markets agenda
Today the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Council of EU Ministers (COREPER) met to take a decision on the compromise on the classification of sustainable investments (taxonomy). The compromise was reached last week in inter-institutional negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament. At today’s meeting, the representatives of the national governments blocked the […]