EU

  • Appia Contact Group: ECB Names 61 Members to Steer Pontes and Appia

    On 19 August 2026 the Eurosystem named 61 financial market stakeholders and public sector institutions to the Appia contact group, the standing forum that will now shape how central bank money settles tokenised assets in Europe. The seats were filled from a call for expressions of interest issued on 1 June 2026, and the group…

  • AMLA Central Contact Point Survey: The 15 September Deadline for PSPs

    On 6 August 2026 the Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AMLA) opened a voluntary survey asking electronic money institutions (EMIs) and payment service providers (PSPs) about their experience with the central contact point framework, and the window closes on 15 September 2026. The CSSF relayed the exercise to the Luxembourg…

  • EMIR Article 7d Reporting: The New Third-Country CCP Return

    ESMA opened a consultation on 18 August 2026 on the technical standards that turn EMIR Article 7d into a working return, and comments close on 12 October 2026. Article 7d, added to EMIR by Regulation (EU) 2024/2987 (EMIR 3), requires clearing members and clients that clear contracts through a central counterparty recognised under Article 25…

  • Offline Digital Euro Standards: The 25 September ECB Feedback Call

    On 18 August 2026 the European Central Bank asked a narrow slice of the technology industry a very specific question: are the secure-hardware standards behind the offline digital euro mature enough, and does the market support them? The call for expression of interest, published through the ECB’s market infrastructure and payments news channel, gives interested…

  • ECB Legal Framework Volume III: The SSM Internal Rulebook, Mapped

    In August 2026 the European Central Bank issued a new edition of Volume III of its Legal Framework for Banking Supervision, the digital compilation that gathers the internal-organisation rules of the Single Supervisory Mechanism. Volume III is the part supervised banks meet when they interact with the ECB itself: it holds the rules of procedure…

  • Commodity Derivatives Position Reporting: ESMA’s 3 September Go-Live

    On 14 August 2026 ESMA confirmed that the reworked weekly commodity derivatives position reporting framework goes live on 3 September 2026. From that date, an investment firm or market operator operating an EU trading venue whose relevant contract is subject to the Article 58 weekly-reporting obligation must submit the weekly report to ESMA using the…

  • CBAM Definitive Period: The 2027 Declaration Deadline for Importers

    The CBAM definitive period has applied since 1 January 2026. It applies to goods listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/956 that originate in a third country and are imported into the Union, subject to the Regulation’s scope exclusions and exemptions, including the Article 2a de minimis exemption for the four mass-based sectors. Electricity…

  • Norway Countercyclical Buffer Held at 2.5%: Foreign-Bank Reciprocity

    Norges Bank’s Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee decided on 12 August 2026 to keep Norway’s countercyclical capital buffer rate unchanged at 2.5%, a decision the bank published on 13 August 2026. The Committee reached it unanimously. For a reporting officer the headline is that nothing in the number moves, but the calendar behind it…

  • ECB On-Site Inspections 2026: Faster Reviews, Fewer Open Measures

    On 12 August 2026, ECB Banking Supervision published two linked newsletter articles: one reported shorter and more targeted on-site investigations, while the other reported a reduction in the stock of outstanding supervisory measures across significant institutions. The average on-site investigation, measured from kick-off to issuance of the final report, has already fallen from 33 weeks…

  • BaFin AI Market Surveillance: New Powers Over Financial-Sector AI

    Since 29 July 2026, BaFin has had an additional market-surveillance mandate for AI systems placed on the market, put into service or used by entities listed in section 2(3) KI-MIG where the system is directly connected with a regulated financial activity. This mandate sits alongside existing prudential and conduct supervision. BaFin may exercise the market-surveillance…