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☆ EU watchdog sets out capital, liquidity rules for stablecoin issuers
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The bloc is deploying the world's first comprehensive set of rules for cryptocurrency and stablecoin markets, and the European Banking Authority (EBA) proposed minimum capital and liquidity requirements for issuers of stablecoins and other types of digitised tokens. The EBA launched public consultations on liquidity requirements for the reserve of assets that back a stablecoin, meaning that only eligible assets of high enough quality can be used. The EBA said that issuers of stablecoins backed by a currency must be able to offer full redemptions at par to investors. Banks may be exempt from liquidity requirements in some instances, given that they already hold liquidity buffers under existing EU bank capital and liquidity rules, the EBA said. The proposed liquidity rules ensure that issuers of stablecoins, which can be non-bank institutions, meet the same safeguards, and also avoid unfair capital or liquidity advantages over banks.

Persons: Stablecoins, Banks, Huw Jones, Louise Heavens Organizations: European Banking Authority, EBA, Thomson

Chevron/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Unions at Chevron's liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Australia reaffirmed their plan to resume strikes this week as mediated talks continued on Monday, sparking angry comments from the company saying workers were being unreasonable. Australia's industrial arbitrator, the Fair Work Commission, mediated three days of talks last week and asked the Offshore Alliance to withdraw the strike plan while talks continued, Chevron said. The Offshore Alliance, a coalition of two unions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chevron said unions continued to introduce new matters into the dispute and were withholding agreement on other issues pending member votes. Chevron said late on Sunday it was "extremely disappointed" by the vote to stick with the strike plan, against the arbitrator's request.

Persons: Chevron, Lewis Jackson, Sonali Paul Organizations: Reuters, Chevron, Handout, REUTERS, Rights, Offshore Alliance, Thomson Locations: Wheatstone, Western Australia, Australia

☆ EU watchdog piles pressure on banks to better quantify climate risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Other "enhancements" to capital rules include adding environmental and social factors to external credit assessements of banks by credit rating agencies. Banks would also be required to identify whether environmental and social factors are triggers of operational risk losses, EBA said. "Improving the quality of data on environmental risks is a key priority as most recent data may not yet reflect environmental risks in full...," EBA said. The watchdog will develop in-house "metrics" to help it supervise environment-related risks at banks. More comprehensive revisions to capital rules to reflect climate risks will be considered for the medium to long term, EBA said.

Persons: Alexandros Avramidis, Banks, Huw Jones, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, European Banking, European Banking Authority, prudential, EBA, Thomson Locations: Provatonas, Evros, Greece

☆ Banks in EU largely comply with 'Basel Endgame', says watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The global Basel Committee agreed additional capital rules in 2017 that require banks to hold bigger reserves to shield them from potential shocks. The EU, along with Britain and the United States, is now putting the final Basel requirements into its rule books. Basel has a 2028 deadline for implementing its remaining rules, which are set to be rolled out in the EU from January 2025. The BoE is due to set out its final Basel Endgame rules sometime in 2024. The aggregate shortfalls globally and in the EU represent a fraction of banks' total capital buffers and earnings.

Persons: Arnd, BoE, Huw Jones, Jacqueline Wong, Jane Merriman Organizations: Bank for International Settlements, REUTERS, Union, Basel, European Banking Authority, Basel III, United, Bank of England, EU, Committee, Thomson Locations: Basel, Switzerland, EU, Britain, United States, Banks

☆ An escalating dispute at major gas facilities in Australia could drive up European prices, analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage units at Grain LNG importation terminal, operated by National Grid Plc, on the Isle of Grain on August 22, 2022 in Rochester, England. Jacob Mandel Senior research associate for global energy markets at Aurora Energy ResearchFears of strike in Australia, one of the world's biggest exporters of liquified natural gas (LNG), have recently pushed up European gas prices — and analysts expect near-term volatility to persist. Jacob Mandel, senior research associate for global energy markets at U.K.-based consultancy Aurora Energy Research, said the global natural gas market was currently "very tight" and "very little supply flexibility" means that strike action in Australia could send European gas prices higher. He said that European gas prices could climb to above 40 euros ($42.9) per megawatt hour if the strikes go ahead as planned. The front-month gas price at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) hub, a European benchmark for natural gas trading, traded at 33.5 euros on Tuesday.

Persons: Dan Kitwood, Jacob Mandel, Mandel, we've, Ramesh, Wheatstone, Henning Gloystein, Gloystein Organizations: National Grid, Getty, CNBC, Chevron, Offshore Alliance, Wheatstone, Fair, Aurora Energy, Aurora Energy Research, videoconference, Rystad Energy, Europe, EU, Eurasia Group Locations: Isle, Rochester , England, Western Australia, Chevron Australia, Australia, Europe, Japan, Korea, wean, Ukraine, Russia

☆ The best and worst parts of being an NBC page: In the 70s, I worked with stars like Regis Philbin and Johnny Carson and was paid $1.90 an hour
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Shelley Herman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

I was an NBC page two weeks laterIt was 1976 and I was 20, still in college and clueless. Now in its 90th year, the NBC Page program is one of the most prestigious entry-level positions in the entertainment industry. I wish I could tell you there was one straight, surefire way to becoming an NBC page, but there isn't. My other friend Al got his NBC page job when the women who worked behind the scenes on "Wheel of Fortune" spotted him as a contestant on the show. She is the author of "My Peacock Tale: Secrets of an NBC Page."

Persons: Shelley Herman, Elvis Presley, pagedom, Janus, Jim Croce, Alice, Regis Philbin, Gene Rayburn, Chuck Barris, Peter Marshall, Neil, Al, Sandy, Johnny Carson, Pete, Julian Goodman, Chance, Hawkins, Roxanne, Don Rickles, Peter Isackson, C.P.O, Sharkey, Dinah, Johnny, Sid Caesar, Imogene, Sid, John Travolta, Diana Hyland, Jeff, Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock, Redd Foxx, Sanford, Son, Dick Clark, Freddie Prinze, Johnny Carson's, Harry Chapin, I've Organizations: NBC Studios, Service, Sears, Toyota, NBC Burbank, NBC, USC, Pasadena Civic Locations: Wall, Silicon, Burbank , California, Las Vegas, California, Pasadena

☆ EU banks face liquidity checks next year after 2023 crises
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of the European Central Bank (ECB) is pictured outside its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, April 26, 2018. The need for credible options was reinforced after the Swiss central bank stepped in with a liquidity backstop for Credit Suisse in March, before it was taken over by rival UBS (UBSG.S). Liquidity refers to readily available cash or short-term debt with a ready buyer to fund a bank's day-to-day operations without having to sell assets. "Strategies and actions suggested by institutions to support liquidity in resolution remained limited and mostly focused on accessing central bank facilities," EBA said in its report. Tapping private markets for liquidity, however, may be difficult for a stressed bank coming out of resolution, and even getting central bank liquidity can be hard without enough collateral, the EBA noted.

Persons: Kai Pfaffenbach, Huw Jones, Alexander Smith Organizations: European Central Bank, REUTERS, Union, Credit Suisse, UBS, European Banking Authority, Silicon Valley Bank, EU, EBA, Thomson Locations: Frankfurt, Germany, Swiss, Switzerland, Silicon, United States

The European Banking Authority (EBA) said the test covered 70 banks, 20 more than in 2021 with 57 from the euro zone whose test was overseen by the European Central Bank, representing about 75% of banking assets in the EU. Of the 14 German banks tested, 8 were below the EU average for CET1 and leverage ratio, while 6 were above. The European Banking Federation, an industry body, said the results reaffirmed the resilience of the EU banking sector. The watchdog said that in year three of the test, 37 banks fell below capital levels that trigger curbs on payouts. Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft, an umbrella association representing the German financial industry, said the results proved that German banks were "resilient" but it criticized the ECB's approach.

Persons: Goldman, Banks, markups, Tom Sims, John O'Donnell, Mathieu Rosemain, Mark Potter Organizations: European Union, European Banking Authority, European Central Bank, EU, JPMorgan, Volkswagen Bank, La Banque Postale, European Banking Federation, Deutsche, ECB, Thomson Locations: FRANKFURT, Europe, United States, France, Frankfurt, Paris

[1/5] A killer whale member of the Bigg's orca T65B pod is seen in the Salish Sea near Eastsound, Washington, U.S., July 7, 2023. While the interactions may be frightening, they have also spawned a popular social media trend that humorously suggests killer whales are rising up to attack wealthy yacht owners. Dr. Michael Weiss, research director of the Center for Whale Research, has another theory for the orcas’ behavior – it’s a fad. "We've seen killer whales do fad-like behavior, and other cetaceans have fads. In 1987, Washington’s Southern Resident orcas suddenly began wearing dead salmon on their heads, like hats.

Persons: Matt Mills McKnight, orcas, Deborah Giles, Giles, Olivia Hafey, Hafey, it's, Dr, Michael Weiss, Weiss, We're, Matt McKnight, Jane Ross, Mary Milliken, Diane Craft Organizations: REUTERS, Puget Sound, University of Washington’s, Harbor Laboratories, Southern, Center for Whale Research, Reuters, Washington’s, Thomson Locations: Eastsound , Washington , U.S, Matt Mills McKnight SEATTLE, . Washington, Portuguese, Washington’s San Juan Island, Seattle

☆ EU watchdog calls for early adoption of stablecoin standards
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, July 12 (Reuters) - The European Union's banking watchdog urged stablecoin issuers on Wednesday to voluntarily comply with 'guiding principles' on managing risks and protecting consumers ahead of mandatory rules due in a year's time. The European Banking Authority (EBA) published on Wednesday for public consultation its first batch of measures to flesh out MiCAR requirements for issuing a stablecoin that would come into force on June 30, 2024. Separately the EU's European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) set out draft rules for so-called crypto asset service providers (CASPs) who trade cryptocurrencies. EBA will issue a second batch of draft rules in October that focus on capital requirements for stablecoin issuers, and how firms should deal with stablecoin redemptions in stressed markets. Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: stablecoin, Huw Jones, Paul Simao Organizations: EU, Crypto, European Banking Authority, European Securities and Markets Authority, unbacked, Thomson Locations: unbacked cryptoassets

☆ EU to ease process of winding down medium-sized banks - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 31 (Reuters) - The European Union intends to make it easier to wind down medium-size banks that fail by tapping national deposit guarantee systems for funding, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The European Commission, in a proposal due in April, would facilitate using the funds to close the gaps at banks that have insufficient funds, as well as avoid tapping uninsured depositors, Bloomberg reported. Last week, European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde told EU leaders that European banks were safe but called on governments to push ahead with a stalled EU deposit insurance scheme. This week, the head of the European Banking Authority (EBA) Jose Manuel Campa warned that the banking sector remained very vulnerable even after measures to stem the fallout of crises at Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Analysis: Rate rises pile pain on SME firms in U.S. and Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Chiara Elisei | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Summary SME vulnerability to rate hikes gone under radarUS, European credit conditions tighteningUK SMEs especially vulnerable -analystsLONDON, March 30 (Reuters) - U.S. and European small and medium-sized (SME) firms may be next to feel the pain of rapid interest rate rises, with analysts and investors warily watching for the impact of tighter credit conditions exacerbated by recent banking turmoil. In the U.S. the average rate that small businesses pay on bank loans rose from around 5% to 7.6% in 2022, and is likely to hit about 9.5% by mid-year, Jefferies analysts estimate. British SMEs, hurt by weak growth, double digit inflation and rising Bank of England rates, are seen as particularly vulnerable. "The Government needs to demonstrate that it is on the side of small businesses who are feeling stressed and under huge margin pressure," McTague added. HARD TIMESMeanwhile the rate of small business loan approval at big U.S. banks meanwhile fell in February for nine straight months and business loan approvals at small banks has also fallen, said online financing platform for small businesses Biz2Credit.

London CNN —Europe’s banks are not yet in the clear, a top EU regulator said Monday, two weeks after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in the United States unleashed turmoil in the global banking sector. José Manuel Campa, the head of the European Banking Authority (EBA), told a German newspaper that European lenders remained vulnerable following the demise of SVB and the subsequent emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS. The regulator is currently finalizing a study of the effects of interest rate risks on European banks, which it started working on in the fall. “The investigation is not yet concluded, but I can say already today that we don’t expect to find major institutions with significant solvency risks arising from unrealized losses,” Campa said. Meanwhile, years of mismanagement and scandal at Credit Suisse left it particularly exposed to a broad sense of unease about banks.

☆ European lawmakers are quietly miffed at U.S. regulators over SVB's collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Chair of the ECB Supervisory Board Andrea Enria and Chairperson of the European Banking Authority (EBA) Jose Manuel Campa in the European Parliament on March 21, 2023. And in Switzerland, a non-member of the European Union, authorities had to rescue Credit Suisse by asking UBS to step in with an acquisition. Meanwhile, regulators and officials across the European Union have been nervous about potential contagion to their own banking sector. After all, it's not been that long since European banks were in the depths of the global financial crisis. Like him, an array of officials have made an effort to stress that the European banking system is in much better share compared to 2008.

☆ Credit Suisse bondholders prepare lawsuit after contentious $17 billion writedown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A sign of Credit Suisse bank is seen at their headquarters in Zurich on March 20, 2023. A number of Credit Suisse bondholders said Tuesday that they were considering legal action after $17 billion of the bank's additional tier-one (AT1) bonds were wiped out as part of its emergency sale to UBS . David Benamou, chief investment officer at Axiom Alternative Investments and a holder of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds, told CNBC on Tuesday that he would be joining the lawsuit along with, he imagined, "probably most bondholders." Was Credit Suisse failing? The Credit Suisse write-down represents the largest loss ever inflicted on AT1 investors since their inception.

☆ What are AT1 bonds and why are Credit Suisse’s now worthless?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But it is the owners of Credit Suisse’s $17 billion worth of “additional tier one” (AT1) bonds who have been left fully in the cold. David Benamou, chief investment officer at Axiom Alternative Investments, a French wealth management firm with exposure to AT1 bonds, called the decision “quite surprising, not to say … shocking.”What are AT1 bonds? AT1 bonds are also known as “contingent convertibles,” or “CoCos”. It is not the write-down of Credit Suisse’s AT1 bonds that has rocked investors, but the fact that the bank’s shareholders will receive some compensation when bondholders will not. But because Credit Suisse’s demise has not followed a traditional bankruptcy, analysts told CNN, the same rules don’t apply.

☆ EU watchdog to tackle banks with too few women on boards
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Women earned on average 9.5% less than male executive directors, and 6% less than male non-executive directors. While banks are allowed to set their own targets for women on boards, some EU states have adopted national laws with targets. EBA Diversity Graphic 2Larger banks, and banks from northern and eastern Europe fare better on diversity, perhaps linked to better childcare facilities in those countries. The EU has just approved a law requiring at least 40% of non-executive board members at listed companies to be women from mid-2026. EBA Diversity Graphic 1Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ EU calls for fast-track crypto capital rules for banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Tough capital rules for banks holding cryptoassets must be fast-tracked in the European Union's pending banking law if Europe wants to avoid missing a globally-agreed deadline, the bloc's executive has said. The global Basel Committee of banking regulators from the world's main financial centres has set a January 2025 deadline for implementing capital requirements for banks' exposures to cryptoassets such as stablecoins and bitcoin. "Banks have expressed interest in trading crypto-assets on behalf of their clients and to provide crypto-assets-related services." Basel's standards are applied in the EU with a law, and a delay could mean that banks have to wait longer to enter the cryptomarket as separate EU rules for trading cryptoassets come into force in 2024. To enforce Basel's crypto rules, the EU could either propose a new law, or expand the banking law it is now finalising as called for by the European Parliament.

☆ Brexit lifts number of million-euro-a-year bankers in EU, watchdog says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationLONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - More Brexit-related relocations from London and rise in trading increased the number of bankers earning more than a million euros a year in the European Union by more than 40% in 2021, the bloc's banking watchdog said on Thursday. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said the number of bankers earning over a million euros ($1.08 million) rose to 1,957 in 2021 from 1,383 in 2020, up 41.5% to reach the highest level since the watchdog began collecting such data in 2010. Germany still has most top earning bankers, with 589, followed by France with 371 and Italy 351. Most high earners - 1,516 - received remuneration within the payment bracket from 1 million to 2 million euros, with the highest payment bracket ranging from 14 million to 15 million euros, EBA said. EBA Graphic on Banker Pay($1 = 0.9245 euros)Reporting by Huw Jones Editing by Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Some banks may struggle to pay back ECB loans, says EU watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Some banks in the euro zone could struggle to pay back money borrowed from the European Central Bank as volatile markets make it harder to raise funds, the European Union's banking watchdog said on Friday. "Banks must repay substantial amounts of central bank loans until 2024. A number of banks will be able to rely on existing liquidity buffers – including central bank deposits – to pay back central bank loans," the European Banking Authority said in a report on banking risks in the 12 months to June 2022. It remains to be seen how costly replacing central bank funding will be," EBA said. Meeting separate minimum requirements for issuing debt that can be written down in a crisis could also prove a challenge for some banks, EBA said.

☆ Europe's banks face 'direct hit' to profits from house price slide
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Europe's banks risk a significant hit to their profits if house prices across the region begin to slide, regulators and ratings agencies have warned. While banks' robust balance sheets mean declining house prices are unlikely to pose a systemic risk, the scale of lenders' exposure to the property sector means they could face a hit to earnings, S&P Global Ratings said on Tuesday. "Rising credit risk in mortgage portfolios will lead to a commensurate rise in bank provisioning [for defaults], and a direct hit to their earnings prospects," the agency said. Banks have "substantially" increased their exposure to mortgages in recent years, and are seeing some early signs of asset quality deterioration, the EBA said. A senior executive at Britain's Nationwide Building Society earlier this month told lawmakers the mortgage lender's worst-case scenario was for house prices to fall by 30% next year, though its central forecast was for an 8% drop.

The European Central Bank (ECB), which supervises euro zone banks, believes some lenders have overly optimistic assumptions about the economy, based on models that cannot fully capture the damage from the current bout of inflation, the sources say. Source: S&P Global-EBAMorgan Stanley estimates euro zone banks will pay out 40 billion euros ($40 billion) in 2022 dividends plus an additional 60 billion euros in share buybacks between this year and next - an outsized return by recent standards. "It's not a good idea to pay out capital during a recession," Intesa's Chief Executive Carlo Messina told analysts last week. "With the economy entering recession, the time of massive bank payouts is over," Marco Troiano, a managing director at Scope Ratings, said. "Running down capital cushions would weaken banks."

☆ EU backs watering down of final Basel bank capital rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - European Union member states have backed a temporary watering down and two-year delay to 2025 for the final leg of the globally agreed Basel III bank capital rules, the Czech EU presidency said on Tuesday. EU states will now negotiate a final deal with the European Parliament in early 2023. Most of the Basel III rules, a set of tougher capital rules for banks after the global financial crisis more than a decade ago, have already been implemented. EU ministers backed a two-year delay to the start date for rolling out the final rules, pushing it back to January, 2025. Smaller banks would benefit from simpler disclosure, and EU states pushed back against attempts at stricter EU harmonisation in checking whether top bank staff are 'fit and proper'.

☆ EU could fall foul of global banking rules, regulators warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The European Union could fall foul of global banking rules designed to stem a repeat of the global financial crisis if proposed changes that would make them looser are passed, the EU's top banking regulators. In their starkest warning to date, the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority argued against deviating from Basel III, emphasising those standards were designed to make the system safer. "At stake here are the reputation, the competitiveness and, ultimately, the funding costs of the EU banking sector," the ECB and EBA said in a joint blog post. "If all deviations under discussion make it into the final legislative package, we cannot rule out the Basel Committee labelling the EU to 'non-compliant'." Reporting by Francesco Canepa; Editing by David Goodman and Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

It wants 3.8 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) to build a gigafactory in northern England but its plans are hanging by a thread as it struggles to lure enough investment. French battery startup Verkor, for example, announced on Wednesday that it had raised 250 million euros ($249 million) to fund a megafactory. The European Battery Alliance (EBA) acknowledges Asian firms, and Chinese companies in particular, are likely to increase their market share in the coming years, helped by their track record and offtake agreements. "Even if we have the production in Europe, it doesn't mean we have the know-how or the control," she said. The EU has approved 6.1 billion euros since 2019 in funding by member states for battery research and innovation while Britain has a 1 billion pound fund to support investments in EV supply chains.

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