In this issue: Government appoints FinTech envoys for Scotland; Guidelines on cryptography and key management, and requirements on privacy shielding for PIN entry; European Parliament briefing on Brexit and financial services and more...

UK

Government appoints FinTech envoys for Scotland

The UK Government has appointed David Ferguson, CEO of Nucleus, and Louise Smith, Head of Design in Personal and Business Banking at the Royal Bank of Scotland, as new FinTech envoys for Scotland.

HM Treasury, 8 December 2016

Worldwide

Guidelines on cryptography and key management, and requirements on privacy shielding for PIN entry

The European Payments Council has published two updated documents. The first is to provide guidance to payment service providers in relation to cryptographic algorithms and related key management issues. The second provides guidance on the use of privacy shielding by consumers, merchants and cashiers.

• Guidelines on cryptographic algorithms usage and key management
• Privacy shielding for PIN entry

ECB, 13 December 2016

FSB Regional Consultative Group for the Americas discusses fintech, correspondent banking and regional vulnerabilities

Members of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) group discussed regional macroeconomic and financial market developments and key financial stability issues in the region, including possible policy responses to these developments. A discussion took place on the impact of the low interest rate environment on financial stability, including the impact on bank profitability and possible spillovers for emerging market and developing economies.

FSB, 12 December 2016

European Parliament briefing on Brexit and financial services

The European Parliament has published a briefing on how Brexit has impacted the financial services industry. The briefing provides an overview of the industry and its connections with the other 27 EU member states. It considers the potential impact of Brexit on the following sectors:

• Banking (covering wholesale banking, retail banking, private banking and wealth management)
• Asset management
• Insurance and reinsurance
• Market infrastructure
• Other professional services

European Parliament, 9 December 2016

European Commission publishes overview of level 2 financial services measures: December 2016

The European Commission has published a document (dated 7 December 2016) setting out an overview of its level 2 measures in the area of financial services. The level 2 measures relate to the following legislative instruments:

• AIFMD
• Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive
• Benchmarks Regulation
• CRD IV and the Capital Requirements Regulation
• EMIR
• Insurance Distribution Directive
• Market Abuse Regulation
• MiFID II Directive and MiFIR
• Solvency II
• UCITS IV

EC, 9 December 2016

EBA consultation paper on reporting operational or security incidents under PSD2

The EBA has published a consultation paper containing guidelines on major incidents reporting under the revised Payment Services Directive. The guidelines set out the criteria, thresholds and methodology to be used by payment service providers in order to determine whether an operational or security incident should be considered as major and, therefore, be notified to a Competent Authority (CA). In addition, the guidelines define a set of criteria that CAs are required to use as primary indicators when assessing the relevance of a major operational or security incident to other domestic authorities. In particular, they detail the information that, as a minimum, CAs should share with other domestic authorities when an incident is considered of relevance for the latter. The consultation closes on 7 March 2017.

EBA, 8 December 2016

EPC Newsletter

The European Payments Council has published its quarterly newsletter, including coverage on the Single European Payments Area (SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer scheme, the outcome of the November 2016 Euro Retail Payments Board meeting and the EPC's position on the European Banking Authority's draft Regulatory Technical Standard related to PSD2.

EPC, 8 December 2016