Europe

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.

Capital / Liquidity

BCBS Issues Guidance on Treatment of Loans Under Relief

By Editors | 05/04/2020

IFRS 9 should be applied flexibly rather than mechanistically when estimating ECL, and payment moratorium periods can be excluded from the counting of days past due.

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.

Big Picture

Short-selling Bans Fail to Achieve Positive Effects: WFE

By Manesh Samtani | 31/03/2020

In Asia, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia have imposed short-selling bans, while Thailand, Taiwan and India have tightened their rules to make the practice more difficult.

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.

Capital / Liquidity

Covid-19 Puts Financial Regulation Under Stress

By Peter Guy | 30/03/2020

Business continuity plans, social distancing measures, economic stimulus and liquidity constraints are hindering banks’ abilities to stay consistent with regulators’ expectations, says Peter Guy.

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.