Governatives

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) have signed an agreement to expand cooperation on FinTech.

This initiative was launched at the second Financial Dialogue between the MAS and the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) held today.

The accord will help spur opportunities for FinTech businesses from Singapore and Switzerland to grow into each other’s markets. MAS and FINMA have also committed to sharing the information regarding emerging fintech trends and regulatory issues pertaining to innovation.

The European Commission, in response to growing pressure around the former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, decided to conduct an investigation in respect of the new ethics commission that the Portuguese has agreed in Goldman Sachs last July.

The Community executive chairman Jean-Claude Juncker made the announcement through a letter of response to the request for clarification received a few days ago by the European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly. The Secretary-General of the Commission, tells Juncker, has sent a letter to Barroso "asking him to provide clarifications on its nine responsibilities and the terms of his contract, on which – still the President of the Commission – will ask the opinion of an ad hoc ethics committee" which however is not binding.

German industry lost momentum again in July, canceling the recovery implemented in the previous period, due to a sharp drop in manufacturing production (-2.3%). This is the worst figure in the last two years. By contrast, building activity recorded a 1.8% advance.

According to the German Statistical Office Destatis, production fell by 1.5% after a revised 1.1% in June (+ 0.8% the first reading). The figure is much worse than analysts’ estimates, which had expected a marginal increase of 0.2%.

Greece was fined, by European Court of Justice, 10 million euro and a penalty payment of EUR 30 000 for each day of delay for failure to implement EU law on waste.

In today’s judgment, the Court held that Greece has not taken all the measures necessary for the implementation of the previous judgment of 2009. Thus, the deadline of 25 March 2013, Greece had not yet adopted a specific plan for the management of hazardous waste nor to establish an integrated and adequate network of disposal installations for hazardous waste or put in place a management-compliant "historical waste" (old waste temporarily stored at sites not used to that destination).

he European Central Bank (ECB) last week bought € 11.14 billion worth of government bonds in the week to Sept 2 as part of the Quantitative Easing program, it took the total it owns to 1 trillion euros. Including corporate, covered and asset-backed bonds, last week’s ECB purchases came in at 13.75 billion euro.This was announced by the ECB itself.

The ECB’s decision-making body will meet again on Thursday and Mario Draghi might announce the extension of the duration of QE, which officially should end in March 2017, already extended by six months.

apanese companies could leave the UK. The threat came directly on the table of the Chinese G20. "Japanese companies have headquarters in the United Kingdom may decide to shift their headquarters in continental Europe where EU laws will cease to be applicable in the United Kingdom". In a document published on the Foreign Ministry website Tokyo calls on the newly British Prime Minister Theresa May to act "responsibly to minimize negative impacts on the Japanese firms."

Russia and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement aimed at stabilizing oil prices. It was announced on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China by the Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak and the Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid Al-Falih.

Minister Novak showed that Moscow and Riyadh are sharing a strategic partnership in the energy sector, stressing that the deep mutual trust between the two countries permit to offer a joint solution to global challenges. "We are ushering in a new phase of our cooperation today. Our energy cooperation is moving towards a deeper and closer interaction", said Novak, adding that this was possible" thanks to relationships with our Arab friends. " The Russian Energy Minister also highlighted how this is a moment "historic", which states the rapprochement between OPEC countries and oil-producing countries that are not part of OPEC.

The global economic recovery is losing momentum and should be supported: it is the message that Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund launched the leaders of the G20 countries and the whole world, on the eve of the summit of Hangzhou, China, on 4 and 5 September. Support for demand, structural reforms, revival of trade, are the strong actions indicated by Lagarde.

"The pendulum of politics is likely to move against economic openness and without strong action the world could experience a disappointing growth for a long time," she said, calling to boost trade and to send positive messages on globalization, which in many benefited. "It ‘s easy to blame trade for all the ills of a country: block free trade would result in stopping an engine that brings benefits in the world for decades".