GRC Report Staff

The HKMA published the Exchange Fund's key analytical accounts for end-August 2026, showing foreign assets down HKD $41.8 Billion to HKD $3,652.7 Billion and a Monetary Base of HKD $2,080.2 Billion. This is a routine data release under the IMF's Special Data Dissemination Standard (SDDS), with no new compliance obligations. It does give compliance, treasury, and risk teams useful indicators of Hong Kong's monetary and liquidity conditions.

EIOPA's final Q&A (ID 3599) confirms that an index-tracking ETF holding EEA listed equities falls outside the Article 171d(2) fund categories and must be assessed on a look-through basis. EIOPA expects periodic index rebalancing to adversely affect compliance with the Article 105a(1) long-term equity (LTE) conditions. Insurers that planned to use broad-index ETFs for the lower LTE capital charge should reassess their assumptions and potential SCR impact.

In a speech in Vienna, ECB President Christine Lagarde argued that Europe must adopt AI quickly while building sovereign computing capacity, open models, and frontier access, financed through deeper European capital markets and the Savings and Investments Union. The speech is not binding, but it signals supervisory attention to AI-related financial stability risks, third-party dependency, and data protection. Compliance teams should treat it as an early indicator of policy and supervisory priorities.

BaFin's Circular 11/2026 (BA), effective September 14, 2026, replaces the 2023 FAQs on trustee and deputy appointments under Sections 7 et seq. of the Pfandbrief Act (PfandBG). It sets out the eligibility criteria, the required documents and their validity periods, the fees, and the rules on remuneration and expenses. Mortgage banks should check their trustee renewal pipeline and internal processes against the new document and timing requirements.

The Deutsche Bundesbank, acting for the Federal Republic of Germany – Finance Agency, will tap the 2.70% Federal Treasury Notes of 2026 (2028) (ISIN DE000BU22148) by EUR $5 Billion through a tender on September 15, 2026. The outstanding volume is currently EUR $17 Billion. This is primarily a market-operations notice, but it matters to compliance teams at eligible bidders, who must meet bidding, settlement, and record-keeping obligations within a tight window.

De Nederlandsche Bank published an analysis concluding that monetary policy transmission in the euro area is weaker when uncertainty is high, particularly financial and geopolitical uncertainty. Compliance and risk teams should recognize that central banks may need to respond more forcefully to achieve the same effect on inflation. This could produce larger or more volatile interest rate movements that affect stress testing, interest rate risk management, and scenario planning.

The Norway Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet) has posted a warning on gatrixcapital.com, a website that the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) placed on its blacklist of crypto-asset derivatives offerings. Compliance teams should treat the domain as a high-risk, likely unauthorized entity and take screening and monitoring steps across onboarding, payments, and fraud controls.