Transatlantic News

Transatlantic News

Chapter News

FSB Chair’s letter to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors: April 2021

The factors to consider on COVID-19 support measures, and a roadmap to address climate-related financial risks. This letter from the FSB Chair, Randal K. Quarles, to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors ahead of their virtual meeting on 7 April notes that, while progress is moving at different speeds across jurisdictions, the vaccine rollout heralds an inflection point in the COVID-19 pandemic. While it is sensible to keep measures that support financial system stability and financing of the real...
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OECD | COVID-19 spending helped to lift foreign aid to an all-time high in 2020 but more effort needed

Foreign aid from official donors rose to an all-time high of USD 161.2 billion in 2020, up 3.5% in real terms from 2019, boosted by additional spending mobilised to help developing countries grappling with the COVID-19 crisis, according to preliminary data collected by the OECD. Within total Official Development Assistance (ODA) provided by members of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee in 2020, initial estimates indicate that DAC countries spent USD 12 billion on COVID-19 related activities. Some of this was...
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FSB | Global Securities Financing Data Collection and Aggregation: Frequently Asked Questions

Securities financing transactions (SFTs) such as securities lending and repurchase agreements (repos) play a crucial role in supporting price discovery and secondary market liquidity for a wide variety of securities. However, such transactions can also be used to take on leverage and can lead to maturity and liquidity mismatched exposures. They therefore can pose risks to financial stability. The FSB published policy recommendations to address financial stability risks in SFTs in August 2013. In November 2015, the FSB developed standards and processes for...
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ECB | How effective is the EU Money Market Fund Regulation? Lessons from the COVID‑19 turmoil

The turmoil seen in March 2020 highlighted key vulnerabilities in the money market fund (MMF) sector. This article assesses the effectiveness of the EU’s regulatory framework from a financial stability perspective and identifies three important lessons. First, investment in non-public debt assets exposes MMFs to liquidity risk, highlighting the need to limit investment in illiquid assets. Second, low-volatility net asset value (LVNAV) funds are particularly vulnerable to liquidity shocks, given that they invest in non-public debt assets while offering...
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Coronavirus Response: EU Commission proposes to exempt vital goods and services distributed by the EU from VAT in times of crisis

The European Commission has today proposed to exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT) goods and services made available by the European Commission, EU bodies and agencies to Member States and citizens during times of crisis. This responds to the experience gained  during the course of the Coronavirus pandemic. Among other things, it has shown that the VAT charged on some transactions ends up being a cost factor in procurement operations that strains limited budgets. Therefore, today's initiative will maximise the efficiency of...
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The European American Chamber of Commerce Welcomes Texas to its Growing Network

Erin McKelvey, Executive Director, EACCTX The European American Chamber of Commerce Welcomes Texas to its Growing Network Ruth Baron, President, EACCTX The European American Chamber of Commerce is delighted to announce the addition of Texas to our network. The EACC Texas Chapter was transitioned from the 41 yr. old French-American Chamber of Commerce DFW, whose Board agreed unanimously that including Europe as a whole is the Future especially when it comes to building fruitful Transatlantic Business connections. The newly formed EACC Texas brings an additional...
Chapter News

Speech | Navigating the Digital Transition, Maintaining a Stable Payment System

France Payments Forum – Les Rencontres Digitales Conference 2021 – Crypto-payments, 8 April 2021; Opening address by Denis Beau, First Deputy Governor | Introduction The health crisis that we have all been living through for a year now has affected people's day-to-day habits, changing not only how we consume but also how we like to pay. This has sped up the transition towards more digital approaches. This acceleration raises major challenges for Europe’s payment ecosystem, but also for payment regulators and supervisors....
Chapter News, COVID-19 News

Coronavirus: EU Commission mobilises €123 million for research and innovation to combat the threat of variants

The EU Commission is mobilising €123 million from Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme, for urgent research into coronavirus variants. This first emergency funding under Horizon Europe adds to a range of EU-funded research and innovation actions to fight the coronavirus and contributes to the Commission's overall action to prevent, mitigate and respond to the impact of coronavirus variants, in line with the new European bio-defence preparedness plan HERA Incubator. Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth,...

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