Europe

Capital / Liquidity

ECB Officials Push for ‘Bad Bank’ to Clean Up NPLs – Report

By Editors | 21/04/2020

ECB officials are concerned that the coronavirus pandemic will trigger a surge in NPLs that could hamper banks’ ability to lend.

Market Infrastructure

MAS, ESMA Sign MOU on Singapore’s Financial Benchmarks

By Editors | 18/04/2020

The MOU and last year’s equivalence decision from the European Commission ensure that FIs in the EU can continue using SIBOR and the SOR as reference rates in their contracts.

AML / KYC

OFSI Fines Standard Chartered $25m for Sanctions Breaches

By Editors | 07/04/2020

Standard Chartered made a series of loans to a Turkish private bank, which at the time was almost wholly owned by Sberbank, a sanctioned Russian bank.

Securities / Derivatives

Banks Scrap Dividends, Buybacks Amid Regulatory Pressure

By Manesh Samtani | 02/04/2020

HSBC and Standard Chartered are among the banks that have scrapped their 2019/2020 dividends and agreed not to buy back shares.

Capital / Liquidity

ECB Calls on Banks to Suspend Dividends, Buybacks for Six Months

By Editors | 30/03/2020

Rabobank, ING, ABN Amro, UniCredit, Commerzbank, Banco Santander, KBC Bank, Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland have suspended dividend and buyback plans until 1 October.

Market Infrastructure

Interim LIBOR Transition Milestones May Be Affected: FCA

By Editors | 26/03/2020

While end-2021 remains the firm target date for all firms to meet, interim transition milestones in some of the less prepared segments such as loan markets may be affected.

Securities / Derivatives

EU, US, UK Authorities Grant Relief on Call Recording Rules

By Editors | 23/03/2020

ESMA, the CFTC and the FCA have each indicated that financial firms can consider alternative mitigating steps in circumstances where call recording with clients is not possible.

ECB Launches €750b Emergency Asset Purchase Programme

By Editors | 20/03/2020

The ‘Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme’ will include purchases of public and private securities, including non-financial commercial paper and Greek sovereign bonds, until end-2020.

Market Infrastructure

ESMA Defers SFTR Start Date for Phase One Reporting Entities

By Editors | 19/03/2020

ESMA now expects trade repositories, credit institutions, investment firms to be ready for SFTR reporting from 13 July, alongside CSDs and CCPs.