Member News

RavenPack | Trading Around the Earnings Calendar

Our recent data science study about calendar earnings changes and news sentiment shows evidence of alpha generation. When companies change the dates of their official earnings releases it has been speculated that it is because they want to delay the release of bad news or bring forward the release date for good news. In a recent white paper, RavenPack data scientists sought to test this hypothesis by constructing strategies that bought and sold stocks when companies changed their earnings dates. Read...

Read more

Member News

Troutman Pepper | A Path to ESG Disclosure

Regardless of your view of the efficacy of ESG disclosure for publicly-traded companies, investors increasingly are insisting on it, and the advisors that can profit from it the most – proxy advisory firms, large accounting firms and consultants – are heavily promoting it. For the 100 or so largest public companies, adding ESG disclosure to their current disclosure process generally is not a big deal. Many already publish reports consistent with GRI guidelines, and some publish reports that are...

Read more

Chapter News

Press statement by President von der Leyen on the composition of the College

Good morning, Yesterday I interviewed the candidates put forward by the Irish government for the post of Commissioner, Ms Mairead McGuinness and Mr Andrew McDowell. Both candidates showed great commitment to the European Union and to the job of Commissioner – excellent candidates. They also both clearly have significant experience of EU matters, of course from different perspectives. Following these interviews, I have decided to propose to the Council and the European Parliament the appointment of Ms McGuinness to the post of...

Read more

Chapter News

Cyber diplomacy and shifting geopolitical landscapes

Speech by HR/VP Josep Borrell | EU Cyber Forum, Brussels. HR/VP Josep Borrell underlines that cyber issues are geo-political in nature and have a strong security dimension. The EU wants everyone to reap the benefits that the Internet and the use of technologies provide. At the same time we need effective answers to fast-changing cyber threats. Achieving both objectives lies at the heart of the EU’s approach to cybersecurity. Ladies and Gentleman, It is an honour to open the second edition of...

Read more

Member News

NautaDutilh | New controller-processor guidelines: beware of impact on data processing agreements

Armed with useful flowcharts to help organisations determine their role, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has published new guidelines on the concepts of "controller", "processor" and "joint controller". Just over a month ago, the Litigation Chamber of the Belgian Data Protection Authority had published a decision in which it appeared to adopt an extensive interpretation of the concept of "controller"; now, thanks to extensive developments by the EDPB, that interpretation no longer seems to be relevant. In this newsletter, however, we...

Read more

Chapter News, Trade & TTIP Related

IMF | Trade as a Tool for an Efficient Recovery

As economies now look for paths to recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, new evidence reaffirms that policies for more open and trade-integrated economies could significantly benefit domestic competition and ultimately may help lower costs for consumers in emerging and developing economies. A recent Working Paper, building on the Regional Economic Outlook chapter on competition, competitiveness and growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, examines the effect of trade liberalization using a large firm-level dataset covering about 400,000 firms in 83 emerging and developing economies from 2000...

Read more

Member News

Vulcan Insight | Post-Brexit Talks Escalate Over UK Plans to Break Withdrawal Agreement

As the EU chief Brexit negotiator headed to London for the eighth round of post-Brexit negotiations, the underlying tensions between the EU and UK Government finally reached breaking point after a series of aggressions, this week. The deep-seated divisions and mounting tensions between Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost have become increasingly apparent over the past few weeks, with the two men publicly accusing each other, or the institutions they represent, of everything from stalling progress to refusing to engage with...

Read more

Chapter News, Financing for Development/UN SDG's

Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System

Report of the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, Market Risk Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Below includes the executive summary, while access to the full report can be found here: Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System Executive Summary Climate change poses a major risk to the stability of the U.S. financial system and to its ability to sustain the American economy. Climate change is already impacting or is anticipated to impact nearly every facet of the economy,...

Read more

Chapter News, Financing for Development/UN SDG's

OECD | Countries must do more to ensure sustainable development of ocean activities

Countries need to work together to defend the ocean from a steady rise in temperature, pollution and overfishing that threatens its ability to continue supporting marine life and providing food and income to billions of people, according to a new OECD report. Sustainable Ocean for All: Harnessing the benefits of sustainable ocean economies for developing countries says that with ocean-related economic sectors forecast to grow rapidly over the next decade, ensuring this development takes place in a sustainable way is...

Read more

Chapter News, COVID-19 News

Countries have responded decisively to the COVID-19 crisis, but face significant fiscal challenges ahead

03/09/2020 - Governments have taken unprecedented fiscal action in response to the COVID-19 crisis, but countries will need to support economic recovery in the face of significantly increasing fiscal challenges, according a new OECD report. Tax Policy Reforms 2020 describes the latest tax reforms across OECD countries, as well as in Argentina, China, Indonesia and South Africa. The report identifies major tax policy trends adopted before the COVID-19 crisis and takes stock of the tax and broader fiscal measures introduced...

Read more