Our Insights

A glimpse into the future of financial services.

Delay in the implementation date of the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRDII)

The European Commission refused to delay the implementation date of the Shareholder Rights Directive (SRDII), as asked by several industry bodies. Therefore, issuers, CSDS and all other financial intermediaries will need to be ready and compliant by September 3 2020. It means that a lot of players will need to accelerate their efforts in the […]

17/12/2020

Re-imagine Tech

The current crisis is likely to push the financial sector further towards (Tech) shared services partnerships and to this respect we see cloud policies being reviewed at a rapid pace. By turning towards third party specialists, financial institutions look to benefit from economies of scale, a more flexible cost base and further resilience to economic […]

17/12/2020

Payments

Will fingerprint biometric cards end the use of PIN codes for card payments? Introducing mobile payments technology into cards. The switch to a cashless and cardless society takes time as mobile payments, although they have a lot of advantages, still need to be widely accepted amongst consumers and merchants. https://newsroom.mastercard.com/asia-pacific/press-releases/mastercard-idemia-and-matchmove-pilot-fingerprint-biometric-card-in-asia-to-enhance-security-and-safety-of-contactless-payments/

17/12/2020

Digital Finance Strategy

A digital finance strategy for Europe could speed up the adoption of securities tokens. The development of securities tokens (and crypto assets in general) is currently hindered by the regulatory uncertainty on this subject. Finding a balance between investor protection, market stability, risk mitigation and innovation does not seem to be that obvious. The European […]

17/12/2020

Future skills

The future of work includes new work environments, new ways to collaborate, new digital skillsets and new methods of leveraging technology to augment human capabilities. 2 Minutes Read of an interesting study that reveals a ‘Skills Gap’ which potentially jeopardizes the future of banking workforce and discusses internal and external solutions the Financial Institutions will […]

17/12/2020

ESMA Annual work programme

ESMA recently published its 2021 Work Programme. In addition to transversal themes key areas of focus will be: 1. Supervisory Convergence: focusing on fund liquidity risk and liquidity management tools, retail investment products costs and performance, quality and usability of data, supervision of ESG reporting and ESG data usage and EMIR implementation. Ensure consistent application […]