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☆ 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.

☆ EU wrestles with Payment for Order Flow share trading rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - European Union states edged closer on Thursday to ditching a proposed ban on brokers earning fees in return for directing stock trades to specific trading platforms. The United States is considering whether curbs are needed for PFOF while the UK has already banned it. The EU ban was proposed in a draft law by the EU's executive European Commission updating the bloc's MiFID II securities law, with EU states and the European Parliament having final say. The Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) said discussions on PFOF and consolidated tape risk "cementing fragmentation and opacity" in markets. However, Huebner said competitiveness of EU markets is essential given competition from Britain and the United States.

☆ EU readies next steps to boost its capital market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Mairead McGuinness said there had been good progress in building the EU's capital markets union (CMU) but more needed to be done to ease reliance on banks for funding companies and the economy, and on London post-Brexit for clearing euro denominated swaps. "We are still over-reliant on central counterparties outside the European Union and this is also a matter of financial stability," McGuinness told an event held by the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME). "In the unlikely case of something going wrong, we would not be in the driving seat for decisions, so we want to increase the attractiveness of clearing in the EU," she said. The EU is watching closely steps being taken by Britain to bolster the competitiveness of its financial sector, now largely cut off from the bloc. "We realise that for the size of our economy the capital markets don't reflect that, as we rely very heavily on bank finance and that is not appropriate."

Global regulators have called on the EU and ISSB to make their climate disclosures interoperable to avoid competing norms confusing cross-border investors. An advisory body is due to present technical guidance to the European Commission on how to implement the disclosures. The ISSB hopes the EU could move towards its definition of materiality, which is drawn from accounting norms already being applied by EU companies in financial statements. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, however, is facing pressure to ditch Scope 3 from its draft climate disclosures. It said it will apply the ISSB's climate disclosure standard in its work.

☆ Euronext Italian arm to become group-wide clearer from end 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Pan-European stock exchange Euronext (ENX.PA) said on Thursday that customers will be able to clear all share trades at its Italian arm from the end of 2023, a move that ends reliance on a London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) unit in Paris. "This is the first milestone in the transformation of Euronext Clearing to create the Euronext clearing house of choice for its cash equity markets," Euronext said in a third quarter trading statement. Clearing in Euronext credit derivatives will follow in 2024. As many are likely to shift stock and derivatives trading to Italy given efficiencies from using one location. Earlier this week, Deutsche Boerse's Eurex Clearing offered payments to buy-side customers who relocate derivatives clearing from London in 2023 in anticipation of the EU legislation.

☆ EU seeks better alignment with global sustainability rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Huw Jones | Nita Bhalla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The European Union sought on Thursday to reassure international companies it would seek to align its sustainability disclosure rules with a global initiative, after warnings from regulators over fragmenting capital markets. The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) is writing global baseline standards for corporate disclosures on climate for use in non-EU countries such as Britain, while the United States is working on its own disclosure rules. "We want to see as much alignment as possible with the work of the International Sustainability Standards Board, even though as I have said Europe is likely to go further and faster to meet our more higher ambitions on climate," McGuinness said. She is moving to the next stage of the EU's green plans by assessing how best to encourage sustainable retail lending for small firms and households. "With the support of the European Banking Authority, we are examining what needs to be done to promote the growth of green loans and green mortgages," McGuinness said.

☆ Bank instant payment shift to help business and consumers, says EU
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness proposed a draft EU law that will require banks across the 27-country union to offer and receive "instant payment" (IP) services for a fee that is the same or lower than they charge for traditional credit transfers. Currently, some banks charge far more for an IP transfer, up to 30 euros ($30) in some cases, compared with traditional transfers. "We want to extend euro instant payments internationally at a later stage," European Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters. "By mandating instant payments, the biggest blockers to open banking payments becoming mainstream are instantly solved," said Tom Greenwood, CEO of instant payments gateway Volt. Currently, non-bank payment firms are excluded as they don't have direct access to payment systems, but Brussels plans to revise its rules to allow them to compete alongside banks in IP payments, an EU source said.

☆ 'Seismic shift' in bank payments to help business and consumers, says EU
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Forcing banks across the European Union to offer instant payments in euros is a "seismic" shift to make the economy more efficient and reap savings for businesses and customers, the bloc's financial services chief said on Wednesday. "By mandating instant payments, the biggest blockers to open banking payments becoming mainstream are instantly solved," said Tom Greenwood, CEO of instant payments gateway Volt. IP allows people to receive and make instant payments 24/7, critical if payday falls on a weekend, and for businesses to manage their cash flows by receiving funds instantly after a sale. Banks will have to screen daily their IP customers against the most updated EU sanctions list, which has expanded since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Currently, non-bank payment firms are excluded as they don't have direct access to payment systems, but Brussels plans to revise its rules to allow them to compete alongside banks in IP payments, an EU source said.

☆ Former senior Obama advisor guides lobbying and policy strategy of London cryptocurrency firm
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The crypto industry has been ramping up lobbying around the world with potentially strict regulations on the horizon. The Biden administration released its framework on potential U.S. crypto regulations earlier this month, including ways that could help fight fraud. Kasselman described Messina as a critical guide to the company's lobbying and overall policy efforts. He noted that Messina is not a registered lobbyist, yet often advises their team on lobbying strategy. Kasselman credits Messina with the company hiring Ian Mair as Blockchain.com's head of U.S. policy and Giles Swan to run its European policy.

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