The European Union's executive body said on Wednesday it has formally adopted a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to allow financial regulators from Britain and the bloc to cooperate more closely, though stopping short of market access, Reuters reported. Britain has left the EU, largely severing its financial sector's previously unfettered access to the bloc. As part of Britain's Brexit terms with the bloc, the EU agreed to formalise cooperation between financial watchdogs, but it was put on hold by Brussels following disagreements between the bloc and Britain over Northern Ireland.

European Union states on Tuesday gave the final nod to the world's first comprehensive set of rules to regulate cryptoassets on Tuesday, piling pressure on countries such as Britain and the United States to play catch up, Reuters reported. An EU finance minister meeting in Brussels approved rules that were thrashed out with the European Parliament, which gave its approval in April. The rules are expected to be rolled out from 2024. Regulating crypto has become more urgent for regulators after the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

European lawmakers came a step closer to passing new rules regulating artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, following a crunch vote on Thursday where they agreed tougher draft legislation, Reuters reported. The European Union's highly anticipated AI Act looks set to be the world's first comprehensive legislation governing the technology, with new rules around the use of facial recognition, biometric surveillance, and other AI applications.

A European judicial team questioned on Thursday the brother of Lebanon’s embattled Central Bank governor who is is being investigated abroad over several financial crimes and the laundering of some $330 million, the Associated Press reported. The questioning is part of a probe by a delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg, which is now on its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in the case. The delegation questioned Gov.

A European judicial team pressed on with its corruption probe of Lebanon's embattled Central Bank governor on Thursday, questioning one of his aides and summoning his brother for another hearing next week, the Associated Press reported. The delegation from France, Germany, and Luxembourg is on its third visit to Lebanon to interrogate suspects and witnesses in an ongoing investigation of Gov. Riad Salameh and associates over several financial crimes and the laundering of some $330 million.

The European Union is set to propose a ban on many goods from transiting through Russia as the bloc attempts to tighten the screws on the enforcement of sanctions imposed over the past year, Bloomberg News reported. he transit ban would extend to numerous technologies and other goods, including several types of vehicles, but not all items would be barred from traveling via Russia en route to third countries. The ban would be part of a new package of sanctions that’s being prepared by the European Commission. Moscow has been able to get around restrictions on several sanctioned technologies.

The European Parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly backed the European Union's first set of rules to regulate cryptoasset markets, Reuters reported. Parliament voted by 517 in favour and 38 against to approve the world's first comprehensive set of regulations for issuing and trading cryptoassets such as bitcoin. "This regulation brings a competitive advantage for the EU," said Stefan Berger, the lawmaker who steered the rules through parliament. "The European crypto-asset industry has regulatory clarity that does not exist in countries like the U.S.," Berger said.

The European Union on Tuesday proposed making it harder for states to pour billions of euros of aid into an ailing bank, as Italy did with Monte dei Paschi di Siena six years ago, Reuters reported. Proposals from the EU's executive seek to ensure that banks hold enough resources, in particular debt that can be written down to release cash in a crisis, to avoid taxpayer handouts. The recent collapses in the United States of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the forced takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS last month were a reminder that failures still occur.

The European Union was closing in Tuesday on approval for a plan to ramp up semiconductor production as it seeks to wean itself off reliance on Asia for the tiny computer chips that control everything from cars to washing machines, the Associated Press reported. The European Parliament and the bloc's 27 member states struck an informal agreement for the 43 billion-euro ($47 billion) Chips Act, which pools public and private funds and allows for state aid to kick-start massive investments for chipmaking facilities.