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Banking & Bancassurance

Global financial regulators attempt to align rules on climate risks

The Financial Stability Board (FSB), which coordinates financial rules for the G20 group of nations, said its “roadmap” seeks to coordinate approaches to disclosures by companies and plug gaps in the data needed to spot financial stability “vulnerabilities” and develop tools to address them.

The roadmap attempts to align rules still in the planning stage between now and 2023 to avoid more divergences between various measures for the same activity.

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Big Tech’s push into India’s financial sector raises concerns, says central bank

The RBI said concerns included operational risks, too-big-to fail issues, challenges for antitrust rules, cybersecurity and data privacy. But it added that positive outcomes could include efficiency gains and more access to financial services.
The central bank’s warnings come at a time of much tension between the Indian government and U.S. tech giants over issues that range from e-commerce rules to data privacy and content posted on their platforms. Amazon, Facebook, Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Twitter have all been caught up in disputes with New Delhi.

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AIA Group picks up 24.99% stake in China Post Life Insurance

Lee Yuan Siong, AIA’s Group Chief Executive and President, said: “The Chinese insurance market is already the second-largest in the world with immense long-term growth opportunities given the protection gap of more than US$40 trillion6. This unique investment in China Post Life enables AIA to capture additional areas of growth and benefit from the substantial potential for value creation.

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LIC, SBI Life, Canara Bank pick up stakes in Indian Bank

The country’s largest and the only state-owned life insurer, LIC, picked up 17.80 per cent of the shares issued under the qualified institutional placement (QIP), which closed on Thursday.

It was followed by SBI Life Insurance (11.87 per cent), SBI Mutual Fund and its various schemes (11.87 per cent), Societe Generale and its various schemes (9.74 per cent) and Canara Bank subscribing to 5.93 per cent of the shares offered in the issue, according to the regulatory filing by Indian Bank.

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RBI prescribes qualifications for MDs, WTDs of urban cooperative banks

it has been decided that all UCBs having asset size of Rs 5,000 crore or above, shall appoint a Chief Risk Officer (CRO). The Board must clearly define the CRO’s role and responsibilities and ensure that he/she functions independently,” the circular said. The CRO should have direct reporting lines to MD/CEO or Board or the Risk Management Committee of the Board (RMC), it added.

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EU watchdog tells banks to have a 10-year climate plan

Climate risks can include “physical” or weather-related events like floods, and “transition” risks from sudden changes in asset values.

A report from the European Banking Authority (EBA) on Wednesday set out recommendations for banks and their supervisors for approaching ESG risks and help the EU meet its goals of cutting carbon emissions by 2050.

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Industry must make pricing of financial products transparent: RBI Dy Guv

Citing an example of such opaque arrangement, Sankar said bundling of products in the financial sector is one such arrangement.

Bundling tends to favour a seller of such a product rather than consumer, he said, adding “when bundling and such issues come up, I think regulators need to be more alert to the possibilities of mis-selling and misuse”.

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