The International Accounting Standards Board (Board) has finalised its response to the ongoing reform of inter-bank offered rates (IBOR) and other interest rate benchmarks by issuing a package of amendments to IFRS Standards. The amendments are aimed at helping companies to provide investors with useful information about the effects of the reform on those companies’ financial statements.

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EBA supports the EU Commission’s call for a more efficient and effective framework to tackle money laundering and terrorism financing ESMA recommends priority topics in AIFMD review Statement on accounting for lease modifications (amendment to IFRS 16) Mergers: Commission approves acquisition of Nets' account-to-account payment business by Mastercard, subject to conditions CFTC Unanimously Approves Proposals Amending Margin Requirements for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants

EACT Financial Regulation Update Press release - German Presidency outlines priorities to EP committees

Isabel Schnabel: Interview with NRC Handelsblad

EU Cybersecurity: Commission launches public consultation on the NIS directive

List of trading venues benefiting from a transitional exemption from the access provisions under Article 36(5) of MiFIR

EBA provides clarity on the implementation of the prudential framework in the context of COVID-19

Fabio Panetta: Unleashing the euro’s untapped potential at global level

The AMF sets out its guidelines for digital finance in Europe

Study - Environmental liability of companies - 15-05-2020

OECD Forum on Tax Administration launches a report highlighting the importance of managing reputational risk for successful tax administration

Last week the European Commission (EC) adopted a communication on upcoming changes for relevant sectors at the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020.

The communication can be found here.

The communication includes a specific chapter on financial services (page 12 onwards), which highlights very clearly expectations for minimum market access for financial services after the end of the transition period.

As part of the Withdrawal Agreement and the political declaration on the future relationship with which the UK formally left the EU (politically, but not economically) at the end of January 2020, both sides had committed to conduct equivalence assessments in financial services by the end of June. 

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The European Commission (EC) will later in July 2020 propose targeted amendments to the EU Benchmarks Regulation on critical benchmark transition (IBORs including LIBOR) as well as with regard to the ability of EU firms to use non-EU benchmarks.

Looking ahead to the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020 and in view of the fact that Libor is administered and supervised in the UK, the UK FCA has issued a statement today welcoming an announcement by the UK government that it intends to introduce legislative amendments that align with the changes the EU will take forward.

The UK government statement can be found here.

The FCA statement can be found here. 

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Yesterday, the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued a statement highlighting that in the context of the ongoing pandemic it is paramount for individual jurisdictions to preserve the stability of their respective banking systems, so as to enable banks to maintain their lending activities throughout the crisis.

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EACT Covid-19 section here.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• The ECB has increased the size of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) by €600 billion to reach a total of €1,350 billion and to extend the horizon for net purchases under this program to the end of June 2021.

POLITICAL RESPONSES

European Commission

• The European Commission announced 2235 new partnerships for scaling up innovative projects to tackle COVID-19 challenges. Building on the success of the previous EUvsVirus Pan-European Hackathon, the Commission hosted a Matchathon from 21 to 28 May under the patronage of Commissioner Gabriel and the European Innovation Council. It brought together the 120 winning solutions from the Hackathon with over 458 partners including investors, corporates, public authorities, academia and research institutions from 40 countries.
• On Thursday (04/6), the European Commission announced it will provide €300 million in funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for the period 2021–2025. The pledge has been made under the assumption that the EU's new Multiannual Financial Framework and in particular the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI), where the funds pledged for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, would come from, are adopted broadly along the lines proposed by the European Commission. On 2 June, the Commission proposed to increase NDICI funding for 2021-2027 to €86 billion in 2018 prices (€96.4 billion in current prices), including €10.5 billion from the new ‘Next Generation EU'.
• The European Commission has approved (04/6) Irish (here and here) and Czech schemes under the State aid Temporary Framework in order to tackle the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. The measures mainly include direct grants and repayable advances.
• The European Commission has put forward a proposal to amend the current EU budget and make available an additional €11.5 billion for crisis repair and recovery in order to support businesses and the regions most affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
• The Eurostat statistics office has released its unemployment numbers for April, indicating that unemployment rose to 6.6 percent across the EU and to 7.3 percent in the 19 euro countries.

European Council

• The EU-China Summit planned for September will be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic according to German officials. The summit was an initiative led by the upcoming German presidency and aimed at concluding an investment protection agreement between China and the EU. Officials from both sides have agreed to find an alternative date for the meeting.
• Following Wednesday (03/6) evening’s G7 Finance Minister call, Mario Centeno, President of the Eurogroup, highlighted that the EU will use its recovery plan to build upon its green and digital priorities and underlined the need to support to strategic value chains.

European Parliament

• Sven Giegold (DE), ECON coordinator for the Greens, has called (03/6) the largest EU Member States to address both the COVID-19 crisis and the climate crisis at the same time, so the climate issue is not left behind. He also called for more action on climate change from the ECB.

UPDATES FROM EU AGENCIES AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS

European Central Bank (ECB)

• The Governing Council of the ECB has decided (04/6) to increase the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) by €600 billion to reach a total of €1,350 billion and to extend the horizon for net purchases under this program to the end of June 2021. The Asset Purchase Programme (APP) will continue as planned. The interest rate on the main refinancing operations, on the marginal lending facility and on the deposit facility will remain unchanged.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

• The ECDC published a report on the implementation of after-action reviews (AARs) and in-action reviews (IARs) focused on the public health response to COVID-19. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic is not expected to end for at least several more months, there is a need to assess what has happened so far, to identify strategic priorities, and to exchange lessons learned. This report will help to optimise the response to the next phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing an evidence-based approach to identifying and implementing new actions based on the lessons learned thus far.

European Data Protection Board (EDPB)

• The EDPB adopted a statement on data subject rights in connection to the state of emergency in Member States. The Board indicated that even in exceptional times, the protection of personal data must be upheld in all emergency measure to support values of democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights on with the EU is founded.

G7

• On Wednesday (03/6) evening, G7 Finance Ministers participated in a call in which they discussed further coordinated actions to tackle the consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. Following the meeting, they released a joint statement in which they highlighted the importance of debt sustainability and transparency to long-term financing for development, especially for low-income countries. In addition, G7 Finance Ministers endorsed the G20 Operational Guidelines for Sustainable Financing and called on all creditors to take lending decisions consistent with the borrower’s debt sustainability.

CLICK HERE TO READ KEY MEMBER UPDATES AND FURTHER DETAILS

Tarek Tranberg
Head of Public Affairs & Policy
European Association of Corporate Treasurers – EACT
M +32 485 1884 03
E tarek.tranberg@eact.eu I L: LinkedIn

The European Commission (EC) has formally proposed a new recovery instrument with a size of €750 billion for the EU to help with the economic recovery from the pandemic. This instrument will be attached to the next multi-annual European budgetary programme – the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

This comes on top of the emergency support measures – the ESM credit lines and the unemployment reinsurance scheme, and European Investment Bank guarantee funds – worth around € 540 billion.

You can find the press release here.

The proposal for the so-called “Next generation EU” fund can be found here. 

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Click on the link below to view the latest update from the European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) re  relevant consultations, Covid-19 developments and all relevant issues.

EACT_ Regulatory_Report_110520_May2020.pdf

The latest issue of the EACT newsletter contains a number of interesting bitesize articles providing topical   insights and support for treasurers as they navigate this  challenging period...

Journeys to Treasury: Protecting Employees, Protecting the Business
As individuals and companies, we find ourselves in unprecedented circumstances that few, if any, could have foreseen. Business continuity plans have been triggered worldwide, but many of these plans did not anticipate the global reach of COVID-19, or the personal anxieties that we would all face. Read article

Journeys to Treasury: Defence Against Fraud and Cyberattack
At a time of degraded operations and personal anxiety, organisations and individuals are at their most vulnerable, so how can treasurers protect their financial and data assets, and shield their employees, at such a challenging time? Read article

Journeys to Treasury: Managing Liquidity at a Time of Crisis
Treasurers have stepped up to help restore certainty and confidence in their organisations, and position their organisations for a ‘new normal’ ahead. Taking rapid steps to maintain liquidity across the business has been central to these efforts. Read article

EACT: Covid-19 Resource Centre
The Covid-19 pandemic is confronting all of us with new challenges. To help navigate some of the uncertainty, we have created a dedicated resource centre that takes you through some of the policy and regulatory measures that have been adopted or are being discussed at EU and international level. Read article