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☆ 'We need to invest in our future': EU official calls for mobilization of capital
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via Email'We need to invest in our future': EU official calls for mobilization of capitalMairead McGuinness, European Commission for financial services, financial stability and capital markets union, stresses the need for the EU to invest in its future and mobilize capital in order to build resilience.

Persons: Mairead McGuinness Organizations: EU, Commission

☆ Consumer finance group seeks more privacy in digital euro use
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A sculpture of Euro symbol is pictured in front of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, May 2, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Tougher privacy safeguards are needed for using a digital euro online, consumer lobby Finance Watch said on Tuesday, in the latest sign of mounting "Big Brother" concerns policymakers are having to confront. Finance Watch said it accepted that some concessions would have to be made to ensure a digital euro is not used for money-laundering, making full, cash-like anonymity of digital payments difficult to achieve. Nevertheless, as drafted, the proposed EU law gives higher levels of privacy to offline use of a digital euro stored in a customers "wallet", Finance Watch said. "While the proposed approach to offline transactions goes a long way towards offering cash-like privacy, a higher level of privacy and data protection should also be applied to small, low-value online transactions," Finance Watch said.

Persons: Francois Lenoir, Mairead McGuinness, Huw Jones, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Finance, European Central Bank, Federal Reserve, Bank of England, European Commission, Finance Watch, Big Tech, EU, The Bank of England, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium, EU

☆ Digital euro package should be focus of next EU Commission - McGuinness
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Julia Payne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The draft law is an attempt to preserve public money by creating a digital euro that is cash-like and usable offline. The ECB is due to decide in October whether to push ahead with a digital euro, which aims to tackle a shortage of European payment service providers. We need a digital version of this," McGuinness said, adding the EU was duty-bound to look into it. "Not to have a digital form of public money at some time in the future would leave a black hole in our system." Non-profit group Positive Money Europe sees the digital euro as a crucial tool to ensure a "safe and accessible" form of public money.

Persons: Bruegel, Mairead McGuinness, it’s, McGuinness, Julia Payne, Nick Macfie Organizations: European Central Bank, ECB, EU, Europe, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS

☆ UK finance minister Hunt says inflation is on track to come down
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - British finance minister Jeremy Hunt said on Saturday inflation was on track to halve by the end of 2023, vowing to focus on the goal as he laid out his priorities ahead of the reopening of parliament after the summer break. Britain's inflation rate is forecast to fall to about 5% by the end of the year - half January's level - and meeting the target would mean one of the five key pledges Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made to voters for 2023 would be met. Hunt said in a statement issued on Saturday that pressure on household budgets would start to ease as inflation cools. "We are on track to halve inflation this year and by sticking to our plan we will ease the pressure on families and businesses alike," Hunt said, ahead of lawmakers returning to parliament on Monday. For July, Britain's annual consumer price inflation rate cooled to 6.8% - still the highest rate among the Group of Seven economies.

Persons: Jeremy Hunt, Mairead McGuinness, Yves Herman, Rishi Sunak, Hunt, Sunak, Sarah Young, Helen Popper Our Organizations: Financial Stability, Financial Services, Capital Markets, REUTERS, Labour Party, Conservative Party, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium, British

☆ UK’s improving finances will bear no fiscal gifts
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Aug 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Higher tax receipts helped Britain to borrow less than expected in July. The UK’s poor economic health leaves him with little room for fiscal giveaways ahead of a prospective 2024 election. Public sector net borrowing stood at 4.3 billion pounds in July, less than the 5 billion pounds expected by economists polled by Reuters. In the first four months of the fiscal year, borrowing was 11.3 billion pounds below the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast. The recent rise in bond yields will add around 18 billion pounds to debt interest spending by 2027/28, says Capital Economics.

Persons: Jeremy Hunt, Mairead McGuinness, Yves Herman, Hunt, Francesco Guerrera, EY’s loveless, Lisa Jucca, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Financial Stability, Financial Services, Capital Markets, REUTERS, Reuters, Budget, Economics, Twitter, TPG, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium

ESG ratings providers must stop providing consulting services to investors, stop the sale of credit ratings and the development of benchmarks among other things, according to the EU's draft legislation published on Tuesday. "ESG ratings agencies that score companies on governance factors are completely unregulated so it's very difficult to compare ratings by different agencies. Agencies providing ESG ratings include S&P Global (SPGI.N), Moody's (MCO.N), MSCI (MSCI.N)> and Morningstar's (MORN.O) Sustainalytics. Britain has also outlined plans to regulate ESG ratings providers where the rating is used by anyone in the UK. In March, the finance ministry published a consultation on regulating ESG ratings providers, saying it saw a "clear benefit" from improving the transparency of methodologies as well as rating providers' governance and processes.

Persons: Mairead McGuinness, Markus Ferber, Ferber, Julia Payne, Tommy Reggiori Wilkes, Sinead Cruise, Mark Potter, Ed Osmond Organizations: European, European Securities and Markets Authority, Financial Services, P, Global, Morningstar, Conservative European, European Commission, Thomson Locations: EU, BRUSSELS, LONDON, Britain, Europe

☆ EU pushes forward with post-Brexit forum for EU, UK financial regulators
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Britain's EU exit largely severed its financial sector's previously unfettered access to the bloc, raising concerns over London's role as a global financial centre. As part of Brexit terms, the EU agreed to formalise cooperation between financial watchdogs. The MoU will create a joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum, similar to one the EU already has with the United States. Joanna Penn, treasury minister in the UK parliament's upper house, welcomed the "positive move" given how EU and UK financial markets are deeply interconnected. The EU has granted 'equivalence' or EU market access to derivatives clearing houses in London until the end of June 2025.

☆ EU executive softens commission curbs for financial products
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

EU financial services chief Mairead McGuinness is due to include the curbs in draft legislation to encourage more retail investors to buy and sell shares. McGuinness said in January that a potential ban on commission or "inducements" paid by banks and insurers to financial advisers could be part of a wider shake-up to end conflicts of interest in retail financial services. Retail investors are rarely offered the least expensive products, though these can often perform as well as the more expensive ones, McGuinness said. Safeguards should also be strengthened around when inducements may be paid and when they must not be, she added. EU states and European Parliament would have final say on McGuinness' proposals.

☆ EU lawmakers approve world's first comprehensive framework for crypto regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) is the first attempt at creating comprehensive regulation for digital assets in the EU. Lawmakers in the European Parliament have approved the world's first comprehensive package of rules aimed at regulating the cryptocurrency industry. In a vote Thursday, the EU Parliament voted 517 in favor and 38 against to pass the Markets in Crypto Act, or MiCA. The legislation, which seeks to reduce risks for consumers buying crypto assets, will mean providers can become liable if they lose investors' crypto-assets. The rules will impose a number of requirements on crypto platforms, token issuers and traders around transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions, the EU Parliament said in a statement Thursday.

☆ EU parliament backs world's first comprehensive rules for cryptoassets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) - The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly backed the European Union's first set of rules to regulate cryptoasset markets. Parliament voted by 517 in favour and 38 against to approve the world's first comprehensive set of regulations for issuing and trading cryptoassets such as bitcoin. "This regulation brings a competitive advantage for the EU," said Stefan Berger, the lawmaker who steered the rules through parliament. "The European crypto-asset industry has regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the U.S.," Berger said. Parliament also backed new rules for tracing transfers of cryptoassets like bitcoins and electronic money tokens.

☆ EU urges others to copy its rules for cryptoassets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - The rest of the world should copy European Union rules for cryptoassets to create a robust global approach that protects consumers and financial stability, the EU's financial services chief said on Wednesday. The crypto sector has been rocked by the failure of crypto exchange FTX and other collapses, sending benchmark bitcoin prices tumbling, though it has begun to recover. "I hope that our rules could become a model for other countries," EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness told the parliament. Crypto firms authorised in one EU state would be allowed to offer their services across all 27. McGuinness said the commission will study whether further rules are needed for decentralised finance, and for lending and borrowing in cryptoassets.

☆ Digital euro not a 'Big Brother' project, says EU official
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Johanna Geron/PoolLONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - A digital euro will offer choice in making payments and is not a "Big Brother" project that seeks to control people, the European Union's financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness said on Wednesday. But critics say a digital version of the euro could be used to pry on people's activities, and make it harder to use cash for making payments and purchases. "This is not a Big Brother project," McGuinness told the European Parliament. If the EU decides to grant formal 'legal tender' status to a digital euro, the bloc would need to do likewise for the cash version of the single currency, McGuinness said. The court said legal tender means mandatory acceptance of the euro at full face value, along with power to discharge from payment obligations or release from debt.

☆ Don't underestimate Russia's efforts to evade sanctions, EU official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailDon't underestimate Russia's efforts to evade sanctions, EU official saysMairead McGuinness, European Commissioner for financial stability, financial services and the capital markets union, discusses efforts by the bloc to crack down on the Russian sanction evasion.

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Senior officials from the United States, Europe and Britain met on Thursday with financial institutions to brief them on efforts by Russia to evade Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. Treasury official told reporters. The firms - from the United States, Britain and Europe - assured the officials that they were working hard to avert Russian efforts to evade sanctions and export controls, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Washington on Wednesday imposed sanctions on over 120 targets, including entities linked to Russian state-held energy company Rosatom and firms based in partner nations like Turkey in a sign of stepped-up enforcement. Treasury's top sanctions official, Undersecretary Brian Nelson, will visit Switzerland next week to discuss further moves to crack down on sanctions evasion, with additional stops in Italy, Austria and Germany, Reuters reported last week. Elizabeth Rosenberg, Treasury's assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crime, will travel separately to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

☆ EU will issue fresh wave of sanctions to stop Russia reinventing their war machine, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"We have to make sure they don't find ways around our sanctions," McGuinness said. McGuinness was also asked whether the EU will look to penalize countries that aid Russia in evading sanctions with new legislation. The U.S. Treasury Department last year published a list of countries helping Russia circumvent sanctions, which included Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. "We're changing our legislation to look at individuals who are involved in sanctions intervention," McGuinness said. Some countries, including Estonia and France, have called on the EU to sanction Moldovan and Georgian oligarchs allegedly working to help Russia destabilize Ukraine.

☆ Germany warns EU over tampering with schemes for struggling banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The EU's executive European Commission is due on April 18 to set out draft reforms to rules for handling stricken banks. The schemes link banks in a national network, allowing a struggling lender to get financial aid from the scheme's other members, forming part of a country's protections for bank depositors. CARVE OUTLindner said the commission's current plans would introduce a "number of new and significant restrictions" on IPS schemes by treating them like deposit guarantee schemes. A "clear and precise carve-out for IPS from newly introduced restrictions would be the easiest and cleanest way" to respect last year's agreement not to tamper with IPS, Lindner said. A report for the European Parliament last year said IPS represents a central and substantial component of depositor protections in Germany.

☆ EU executive says no decision yet on financial sector commission ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive said on Wednesday that upcoming plans to bolster retail investor protections will be "ambitious", but any ban on banks offering commission in return for business from financial advisers has yet to be decided. The European Commission in the coming weeks is due to propose its "retail investment strategy" to deepen its capital market, a step made more urgent by Britain's exit from the bloc. His boss, EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness, has suggested that inducements or commission offered by banks to financial advisers who send business their way should be banned to end a conflict of interest and cut fees. Industry officials talk of the idea of a ban being dropped or introducing over many years. Any follow-up legislative proposal would be for the new commission from late 2024, he added.

The SFDR defines sustainable investment as contributing to "an environmental or social objective", assessed by indicators such as use of raw materials or production of waste. The people Reuters spoke to said discrepancies among fund portfolios reflected a lack of clarity from the Commission over what constitutes a sustainable investment. Reuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsTEMPERATURE GAUGEMSCI, the finance industry data provider, has developed a way of checking on investment funds' green credentials with its ESG Implied Temperature Rise tool. Among them, for example, are BlackRock's Sustainable Energy Fund, Nordea's Global Climate and Environment Fund and Pictet's Global Environmental Opportunities Fund. "The characterisation of what constitutes a sustainable investment under the SFDR is also a concept that needs further clarifications at European level."

☆ EU financial services need shake-up to benefit retail investors, top official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Mairead McGuinness, EU commissioner of financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union speaks during the European Parliament's plenary session in Brussels, Belgium November 23, 2020. This could include the ban on "inducements" or commission as part of efforts to give EU retail investors better value for money. Insurers and banks have already begun lining up to lobby against the potential ban on this sales model, which dominates how retail financial products are sold in the EU. Products sold through inducements are on average 35% more expensive than products sold where no inducements are paid, she said. EU states and the European Parliament would have the final say on any proposal to ban inducements.

☆ Morning bid: No safety net?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"I just think we need to keep going," Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said. And many forecasters are now wary the Fed will err on the side of tighter policy to ensure inflation is slayed. Markets wobbled on the prospect on Wednesday, with the S&P500 (.SPX) staging its biggest decline of the year so far. At 3.32%, 10-year U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest since September. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Germany joins battle against EU ban on financial product commission
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

EU financial services chief Mairead McGuinness set out last month a detailed case in favour of banning "inducements", or commission paid by a bank or insurer to financial advisers who have sold their products. McGuinness could propose a ban in her upcoming "retail investment strategy" to deepen the bloc's capital market by attracting more retail investors. EU states and the European Parliament would have the final say on any ban. "Banning inducements in general would mean a serious setback to efforts to increase retail investment in the capital markets," he added. Insurance Europe, an insurance industry body, said an outright EU-wide ban would undermine the goals of the retail investment strategy.

☆ EU financial services chief favours banning sales inducements on investment products
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A European Union ban on inducements for recommending sales of financial products could cut costs for retail customers by more than a third, the bloc's financial services chief Mairead McGuinness has said. McGuinness is due to set out a new retail investment strategy to help deepen the bloc's capital market. Ferber told McGuinness in October he would strongly advise against banning inducements. McGuinness said she was still assessing different policy options, but the current dominant inducement-based model for selling retail investment products often means products are more costly than other cheaper alternatives on the market. "The comprehensive retail investment study has found that products on which inducements are paid are - on average - about 35% more expensive than investment products on which no inducements are paid," McGuinness said in her letter.

☆ Analysis: EU avoids sledgehammer to crack euro clearing nut - for now
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

EU financial services chief Mairead McGuinness has likened ending the bloc's heavy reliance on London for clearing euro contracts to weaning the EU off Russian gas so that Brussels builds "open strategic autonomy" in capital markets to safeguard financial stability. This will help build a more efficient market that makes relocation of clearing from London attractive, McGuinness said. Industry officials note EU based clearing liquidity in this contract would effectively need to be built up from scratch, which could take time. These conditions would mean that in practice EU banks will still be clearing some derivatives in London after June 2025. Nevertheless, EU banks still face systems changes to report and track how much is being cleared, a cost that UK and U.S. banks won't face.

☆ EU ramps up moves to limit financial link with post-Brexit London
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Britain's departure from the EU has forced the bloc to review its reliance on London for clearing trillions of euros in derivatives, EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness said. The draft laws form the latest package in the bloc's efforts to build a capital markets union. The portion that must shift would be decided by EU regulators, but the relocation would be "gradual" and "with the grain" of the market to cut excessive rather than all reliance on London, an EU official said. Banks pushed back against voluntary attempts to relocate euro clearing from London to Frankfurt, leaving the EU with little choice but to mandate the shift. The third draft law seeks to simplify how companies list to save about 100 million euros annually in compliance fees.

☆ We have to work with rest of the world on crypto, EU’s McGuinness says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWe have to work with rest of the world on crypto, EU’s McGuinness saysMairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union at the European Commission, discusses regulation of the crypto assets.

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