Central banks will seek to safeguard financial stability amid growing concerns about their ability to weather the higher interest rate environment, which has resulted in raising fears of a credit crunch, the Swiss Re Institute has stated in a recent report, Reinsurance News reported. Credit has already been tightening in the U.S. and EU, just as smaller banks are experiencing renewed pressure on assets. This potential credit crunch would involve a sudden and sharp restriction on lending to businesses and households, which could cause serious damage to the real economy.
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Core inflation in the eurozone hit a record in March, a setback for central bankers whose rapid interest-rate rises have exacerbated financial sector strains and caused pains in part of the bloc’s economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fresh data increases the likelihood that the European Central Bank will raise its key rate again in May. It could also encourage governments to explore alternative ways to cool prices rises by targeting inflationary increases in profits.
EU regulators are likely to open investigations into tax deals between EU countries and multinationals after reviewing their arrangements in the previous decade, the bloc's competition chief warned on Monday, Reuters reported. European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, who has ordered Apple to pay 13 billion euros in back taxes in Ireland and Amazon 250 million euros to Luxembourg, among a dozen cases, has said such tax deals amount to illegal tax breaks. Despite her crackdown, Vestager said aggressive tax planning "is still with us".
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Italy's Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti is closely watching market developments following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the ministry said on Monday, adding that the European Union should act quickly to shore up banks if needed, Reuters reported. "We appreciate the timeliness with which the U.S. authorities intervened and trust that, if necessary, European authorities will intervene with the same timeliness, assessing the implications for the conduct of monetary policy and financial stability," the economy ministry said in a statement.
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Insufficient checks and safeguards on how EU member countries spend a massive aid program designed to help them bounce back from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic are creating possibilities for fraud and mismanagement, the bloc's financial watchdog warned on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
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UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s deal to solve the bitter dispute with the European Union over Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements has sparked hope in the City of London that the two sides could finally formalize a pledge to work together on setting rules for banks and financial markets, Bloomberg News reported. The so-called memorandum of understanding on financial rules may seem like a fairly low bar for such economically-tied neighbors. But in the recent history of post-Brexit relations, it would count for progress.
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The European Union will seek to rein in generous spending by member states permitted to help households and businesses through the Covid pandemic and energy crisis as it sets out a return to stricter budgetary discipline, Bloomberg News reported. Governments will be instructed to withdraw support and consolidate national budgets when the European Commission adopts its fiscal guidance for 2024 on Wednesday, according to an EU official.
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Britain and the European Union have reached a new agreement on post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, raising hopes that more than six years of wrangling over the U.K.’s departure from the bloc may finally come to an end, the Associated Press reported. The deal, announced Monday by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, is designed to replace existing rules that have been criticized for effectively creating a customs border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, weakening the region’s links to Britain.
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A new deal agreed between Britain and the European Union to amend the Northern Ireland Protocol will allow the Stormont assembly to stop EU laws applying in the province, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday, Reuters reported. "Many had called for Stormont to have a say over these laws. But the 'Stormont break' goes further and means that Stormont can in fact stop them from applying in Northern Ireland," Sunak told a news conference.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Union leader Ursula von der Leyen are set to hold face-to-face talks, with expectations high they will seal a deal to resolve a thorny post-Brexit trade dispute, the Associated Press reported. That would mark a breakthrough after months of bitter wrangling that has soured U.K.-EU relations, sparked the collapse of the Belfast-based regional government and and threatened to set back Northern Ireland's decades-old peace process. In a joint statement on Sunday the U.K.
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