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(Full description) It is designed to keep you "knowledgeable and competent" in accordance with ESMA's Guidelines (details) to implement MiFID II. We update you on EU-level developments in regulation, market structure, economic figures and events that may influence investment products marketed by your firm. This is NOT investment research attempting to forecast security prices.

Content

We select articles from our database to produce a a "10-minute Read 'n Verify" e-mail of about 1500 (normal maximum 2000) words of content per week. Each article has a link that enables you to drill down into more detail - depending on your corporate subscription level. Moreover, you can browse our website - subject to your subscription - to broaden your understanding of a subject. or set up a personalised alert.

Verify

The Verify test enables you to check your comprehension of our choice of the top three issues this week.

1. Financial Times: Global fund houses hold crunch talks with FCA to clarify MiFID

2. ESAs highlight main risks for the EU financial system

3. ESAs provide guidance to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering in electronic fund transfers

At the foot of this e-mail is a link to a multiple choice test and you can use a "100% success" on the three questions to verifiy 10 minutes of CPD to your employer and/or professional qualification body.

Jump directly to articles on:- Banking Union Capital Markets Union Anti-Money Laundering Insurance Asset Management Financial Services Policy Graham's Articles, Comments & Speeches Political Economic             About this email

Articles from 21 September 2017 - 28 September 2017

Banking Union     Financial Times: Draghi: still too many non-performing loans across eurozone banking system Mario Draghi has warned that there are still too many dud loans in the eurozone’s banking system. Non-performing loans have been a major problem in some of the eurozone’s weaker banking systems, including Italy’s.  View Article EBA and ESMA provide guidance to assess the suitability of management body members and key function holders These Guidelines aim to harmonise and improve suitability assessments within EU financial sectors, and to ensure sound governance arrangements in financial institutions in line with the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).   View Article EBA consults on amendments to technical standards on supervisory disclosure The European Banking Authority launched a consultation to amend the Implementing Technical Standards on supervisory disclosure, which specify the format, structure, contents list and annual publication date of the supervisory information to be disclosed by competent authorities.  View Article EBA publishes guidance to further harmonise EU banks internal governance These Guidelines aim at further harmonising institutions' internal governance arrangements, processes and mechanisms across the EU, in line with the new requirements in this area introduced in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) and also taking into account the proportionality principle.   View Article ECB: Macroprudential stress-tests and tools for the non-bank sector ECB's Vítor Constâncio spoke about what needs to be improved to operationalise stress testing and about the state of play regarding the implementation and progress made for some of the specific macroprudential instruments that authorities would need, should systemic risks materialise.  View Article Financial Times: Banking remains far too undercapitalised for comfort The UK experienced, with Northern Rock, its first visible bank run. That turned out to be a small event in a huge crisis. The simplest question this anniversary raises is whether we now have a safe financial system. Martin Wolf says the answer is no.  View Article Financial Times: Japan’s big banks plan digital currency launch Japanese banks plan to introduce a digital currency ready for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as they respond to the threat from China’s Alibaba, which recently launched its mobile-phone payments service in the country.  View Article     Capital Markets Union     MiFID II / MiFIR post-trade reporting requirements This document takes the structured approach to understanding the PTT obligations defined in MiFIR. It also highlights the key challenges and practical implementation options for the impacted qualifying investment firms to consider as they progress with plans to be MiFID II compliant.  View Article Financial Times: Carmignac warns MiFID II will disadvantage European asset managers The French asset manager said a shift towards absorbing the cost of research when European rules known as MiFID II come into force in January would damage the quality of research available and hurt competition in the industry.  View Article Financial Times: Global fund houses hold crunch talks with FCA to clarify MiFID Forty of the world’s largest asset managers and banks held an emergency summit in London with the Financial Conduct Authority in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the UK’s financial regulator to clarify new rules that threaten to disrupt their global operations.  View Article     Anti-Money Laundering     ESAs provide guidance to prevent terrorist financing and money laundering in electronic fund transfers These guidelines are part of the ESAs' wider work on fostering a consistent approach to Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) and promote a common understanding of payment service providers' obligations in this area.  View Article     Insurance     EIOPA: Survey to gather data from stakeholders for work on developing Q&As on the Insurance Distribution Directive EIOPA's intention is to develop Q&A related to insurance distribution activities by insurance distributors, focussing on issues of interpretation or application of the IDD and its implementing measures. The Q&As will have no binding force in law and will not be subject to a "comply or explain" process.  View Article Insurance Europe: Commission’s Single Market Information Tool proposal should be withdrawn Insurance Europe has published a position paper on the European Commission’s proposals for a Single Market Information Tool (SMIT), where it raised serious concerns and called for the proposal to be withdrawn.   View Article IAIS releases application paper on MCCOs The IAIS Executive Committee adopted the Application Paper on Mutuals, Cooperatives and Community-based Organisations in Increasing Access to Insurance Markets. The Application Paper provides application guidance for the supervision of Mutuals, Cooperatives and Community-based Organisations (MCCOs).  View Article     Asset Management     Investment & Pensions Europe: IASB urged to look again at DB surplus accounting rules The International Accounting Standards Board should carry out further analysis of proposed amendments to rules governing defined benefit pension surpluses, the accounting regulator’s own staff have said.  View Article Investment & Pensions Europe: Pension funds 'have purest approach to long-term investment' European pension funds have provided some straight-talking feedback on recommendations made by an advisory body to the EC on sustainable finance. In trade body PensionsEurope’s submission to the consultation by the HLEG, it said “pension funds have the purest approach to long term/sustainable investment”.  View Article     Financial Services Policy     ESAs highlight main risks for the EU financial system The ESAs Autumn 2017 Report on risks and vulnerabilities in the European Union's financial system highlights the risks to the stability of the European financial sector in an uncertain political and economic environment, not least in light of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.  View Article New working group on a risk-free reference rate for the euro area The ESAs and the Commision announced the launch of a new working group tasked with the identification and adoption of a risk-free overnight rate which can serve as a basis for an alternative to current benchmarks used in a variety of financial instruments and contracts in the euro area.  View Article     Grahams Articles, Comments & Speeches     Reflecting on the detailed content of PM May’s Florence speech: 553 days until we go over the cliff May's speech was long on the desire for creative visions on the part of EU27 leaders but short on why they should divert from the visions they set out to achieve for themselves on the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.   View Article     Political     The Guardian: German election: Merkel wins fourth term but far-right AfD surges to third Angela Merkel has secured a fourth term as German chancellor but with her authority diminished, after her conservative bloc secured the lead position in parliamentary elections but failed to halt the march of rightwing populists.  View Article     Economic     European Council: Greece's finances stabilised, the excessive deficit procedure is closed The Council confirmed that the country's deficit is now below 3% of GDP, the EU's reference value for government deficits.   View Article ACCA: Taxation of the Digital Economy - go for the International path first Reacting to the publication of the Commission Communication on a tax overhaul in the EU for the Digital Single Market, ACCA recommends that any new measure should be embedded in the general international corporate tax framework to ensure consistency and coherence of tax rules worldwide.  View Article

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