Things worth reading: the European view

The view from Europe, courtesy of Edith Rigler:

German banking supervisor reprimands Deutsche Bank – Handelsblatt, 13 August
2013

In their
preliminary report, the German banking supervisor BaFin has reprimanded
Deutsche for negligence in connection with the Libor scandal. While Bafin
itself is not permitted to levy penalties, Deutsche expects significant fines
from the UK and the US supervisors and has accordingly set aside a
three-digit  amount in million euro.

The SEPA clock is ticking – Handelsblatt, 1 August 2013

Although new
payment instruments become mandatory from 1 February 2014, many German
corporates have not yet requested the new required creditor identifier. This
number is needed to make SEPA direct debits. According to the German Central
Bank, only about 600,000 numbers have been assigned although Germany has more
than 3.6 million businesses and approximately 580,000 associations.

Regulation requires higher IT budgets - Survey by Robert Half
Financial Serivces,  29 July 2013

A recent survey
of 1,100 CFOs and COOs reveals that more than one-third expect having to
increase their IT budgets, in order to be able to implement regulation such as
Basel III, FATCA, Solvency II and MiFID. 
This is a 14% increase as compared to last year.

European business and consumer confidence edged up again in
July – European Commission, 31 July 2013

The European
Commission´s July Economic Sentiment Indicator rose 1.2 points in the 17-nation
euro zone and 2.4 points in the full 28-member states of the EU, continuing its
upward trend. Overall, the report fits in with other, slightly more encouraging
data suggesting the euro zone may at last be on the point of escaping a deep
and damaging recession.