
NEWS
COVID-19 - Impact on Financial Sector - 5 August 2020

Related Lawyer(s)
Please find below a summary of COVID-19 developments of last week (27/7 until 31/7 included); these alerts are dedicated to following up on the financial regulators’ responses to the crisis. We have also created a COVID-19 Resource Center to offer legal and business insights as this crisis continues to evolve. We wish you and your loved ones well.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact:
Tom Van Dyck |
Freya Mareels |
Wim Dedecker |
30/07/2020 | ||
The NBB urges Belgian credit institutions, insurers and re-insurers to suspend their dividend payments until at least 1 January 2021 and encourages them to maintain a cautious attitude towards variable remuneration and profit sharing. |
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29/07/2020 |
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The NBB states that the COVID-19 epidemic has significantly slowed individual consumptions. After the lockdown, however, family consumption does not appear to increase immediately: most consumers report that they are less likely to go to shops and catering establishments, mainly because of the measures in force and because of health fears. This confirms the NBB’s analysis that general measures to support purchasing power were likely to have only a limited impact on household consumption. |
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28/07/2020 |
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The NBB states that the restrictive measures taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented social and economic crisis, the effects of which are felt throughout the world and Belgian economies. |
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28/07/2020 |
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In this circular the NBB indicates that the guidelines of EBA on legally established and non-legally established moratoria for payment obligations on loans applied in the light of the COVID-19 crisis (consolidated version of 25 June 2020 of the EBA guideline EBA/GL/2020/02 integrating EBA Guidelines EBA/GL/2020/08), are integrated into its supervisory practice. The circular contains a brief summary of these guidelines and can be consulted on the EBA website. |
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30/07/2020 |
EBA sees first impact of COVID-19 materialising in EU banks’ Q1 data |
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EBA published its quarterly Risk Dashboard together with the results of the Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ). |
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30/07/2020 |
EIOPA outlines key financial stability risks of the European insurance and pensions sector |
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EIOPA published its July 2020 Financial Stability Report of the (re)insurance and occupational pensions sectors in the European Economic Area. During the last months, the COVID-19 outbreak proved the importance of the Solvency II regulatory framework. The market-consistent and risk based approach helped insurers to better align capital to risk, build-up resilience and enhance the risk management practices, while the adjustments included for long-term guarantees allowed to partially mitigate market volatility caused by COVID-19. As of year-end 2019, the insurance sector had a solid and comfortable capital buffer (median SCR ratio of 213%) which helped insurers to withstand the initial severe market shocks experienced with the COVID-19 crisis. However, a high level of uncertainty on the magnitude of economic disruption increases downside risks going forward. COVID-19 has further intensified the preexisiting challenges posed by the prolonged low yield environment, a fundamental risk for both insurance and pension sectors. |
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27/07/2020 |
EIOPA Statement on Solvency II supervisory reporting in the context of COVID-19 |
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Following EIOPA’s Recommendations of 20 March 2020 on annual and quarterly reporting and publication deadlines, EIOPA considers that insurance and reinsurance undertakings should now be in condition to comply with the deadlines provided in the Solvency II framework |