The right rules could provide a safe space for innovation Crypto assets have been around for more than a decade, but it’s only now that efforts to regulate them have moved to the top of the policy agenda. This is partly because it’s only in the past few years that crypto assets have moved from being niche products in search of a purpose to having a more mainstream presence as speculative investments, hedges against weak currencies, and potential payment instruments. The...

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Every year at this time, world leaders gather in New York for the United Nations (UN) General Assembly. This year, however, there will be nothing routine about this diplomatic set-piece. 77 years after the UN was created to save humanity “from the scourge of war”, Europe is once again on the front line and crises are affecting many regions. UNGA offers a unique chance for countries to come together, to work out solutions to global problems. And after two...

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It’s ironic that the only thing clear about digital dark patterns is the FTC’s commitment to protect consumers from the injury they inflict. A new FTC Staff Report sheds light on the ways that marketers can manipulate people into buying merchandise or giving up personal information through the use of dark patterns – a phrase that describes a broad range of deceptive design elements. If your business is involved in web-based commerce, the Report discusses in detail a number...

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The EU Commission is proposing an emergency intervention in Europe's energy markets to tackle recent dramatic price rises. The EU is confronted with the effects of a severe mismatch between energy demand and supply, due largely to the continued weaponisation by Russia of its energy resources. To ease the increased pressure this puts on European households and businesses, the Commission is now taking a next step in tackling this issue by proposing exceptional electricity demand reduction measures, which will...

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Billions of consumers around the world are seeing higher oil prices seep into the cost of living and wages. Filling the gas tank soon starts to cost more when crude prices climb, as does airfare, but higher energy costs also boost prices for all the products on store shelves. Workers seek higher wages to compensate for a loss in their purchasing power. These are what economists call second-round effects, and they can in turn further raise prices. If this...

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“Democratic institutions must constantly gain and regain the citizens’ trust. We must live up to the new challenges that history always puts before us. Just like Europeans did when millions of Ukrainians came knocking on their door. This is Europe at its best. A Union of determination and solidarity.” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission READ THE FULL ADDRESS WATCH THE FULL ADDRESS Charting the course for the year ahead In her State of the Union address on 14 September...

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Women and men shop differently and have different perceptions of prices and inflation. This ECB Blog post examines how inflation expectations are formed and revised across gender and why that matters for central banks. Women tend to have higher inflation expectations than men. As these differences are well documented across the world, we have used results from the ECB’s new Consumer Expectations Survey (CES) to shed light on certain factors which can explain some of the gender inflation gap. And...

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Financing of unprecedented EUR 1 billion built-to-sell construction facility including one of the biggest loans ever granted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) under a Project Finance structure EIB loan backed by the EU's new InvestEU programme Further loans from seven commercial banks More than EUR 2 billion project volume in total for entire renewable energy pipeline in Spain and Portugal with over 50 projects Aquila Clean Energy EMEA, the clean energy development platform in Europe of Aquila Capital, has...

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The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) issued today their Autumn 2022 joint risk report. The report highlights that the deteriorating economic outlook, high inflation and rising energy prices have increased vulnerabilities across the financial sectors. The ESAs advise national supervisors, financial institutions and market participants to prepare for challenges ahead. The post-pandemic economic recovery in Europe has dwindled as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia’s war on Ukraine and the disruptions in...

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