Europe's banks are making money, lending is growing, bad loans remain near historic lows and capital ratios sit close to record highs. That is the easy part of the European Banking Authority's latest assessment of the sector. The harder part is explaining why a report that contains so many reassuring numbers reads, at times, like a warning.
The federal government moved Thursday to extend core anti-money laundering controls to the stablecoin sector, proposing rules that would require permitted payment stablecoin issuers to verify the identities of their customers and maintain formal customer identification programs.
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) said it has launched a market investigation into the country's motor insurance sector, a review that will be conducted jointly with insurance supervisor IVASS. The inquiry will examine whether parts of the market's structure (including risk classification systems, claims procedures and consumer switching mechanisms) are working as intended or creating obstacles to competition.
The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security announced Wednesday that the German industrial giant agreed to pay a $36.18 million civil penalty to resolve allegations that it exported controlled items to Huawei Technologies Co. and its affiliates without the licenses required under U.S. export control rules. The settlement closes a case that stretched across four years and more than $72 million in transactions.
HSBC Bank has been ordered to pay a penalty of approximately $22.8 million (AUD $35 million) after admitting to serious failures in its handling of scam-related customer losses, in what Australian regulators described as one of the first enforcement actions of its kind globally. The penalty was imposed by the Federal Court on June 18 following proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
When Sweden's financial regulator published its latest assessment of money laundering, terrorist financing and sanctions risks on Thursday, the sectors drawing the most scrutiny were largely the same ones that appeared in previous editions, including banks, international payment services and crypto-assets.
A recurring theme runs through the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets' 2025 SREP Market Overview. Firms have spent considerable effort building policies, documenting processes and establishing governance structures. The harder part is making sure those things function as intended once they leave the page.