At today’s meeting (July 16, 2020) the Governing Council of the ECB took the following monetary policy decisions: The interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.50% respectively. The Governing Council expects the key ECB interest rates to remain at their present or lower levels until it has seen the inflation outlook robustly converge to a level sufficiently...

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, has submitted a response to the European Commission’s (EC) consultation on the renewed sustainable finance strategy. The response covers a broad range of topics from strengthening the foundations for sustainable finance, increasing opportunities for citizens, financial institutions and corporates to have a positive impact on sustainability, to managing and reducing risks relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. In ESMA’s view, the future strategy on sustainable finance should aim...

The EU is supporting the economic recovery in all Member States by injecting almost €2.2 billion into 140 key transport projects. These projects will help build missing transport links across the continent, support sustainable transport and create jobs. The projects will receive funding through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU's grant scheme supporting transport infrastructure. With this budget, the EU will deliver on its climate objectives set out in the European Green Deal. A very strong emphasis is on projects reinforcing railways,...

However, it considers that Commission Decision 2010/87 on standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries is valid. Read the full press release here: The Court of Justice invalidates Decision 2016/1250 on the adequacy of the protection provided by the EU-US Data Protection Shield Compliments of the European Commission.

The European Commission has today adopted an ambitious new Tax Package to ensure that EU tax policy supports Europe's economic recovery and long-term growth. The Package is built on the twin pillars of fairness and simplicity. Fair taxation remains a top priority for the European Commission, as a means of protecting public revenues, which will play an important role for the EU's economic recovery in the short-run and prosperity in the long-run. Today's Package seeks to boost tax fairness, by intensifying the...

Credit standards for loans to firms remain favourable, supported by fiscal and monetary measures Surge in firms’ demand for loans continues to reflect emergency liquidity needs Credit standards for loans to households tighten further Credit standards – i.e. banks’ internal guidelines or loan approval criteria – remained broadly unchanged for loans to enterprises (see Chart 1), while tightening further for loans to households for house purchase, consumer credit and other lending to households in the second quarter of 2020, according to the July 2020...

Together with our members we are creating a Video series of first-hand accounts of the Pandemic’s impact, both personally & professionally. We invite you to join us today for a first-hand look at the impact of the global shutdown following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – Today we are featuring Sophie Lechner, Founder & CEO of Global Commerce Education a Member of the EACCNY. The questions we asked our members for this series are: 1) What are some challenges you, personally and...