In April’s briefing call, Michael Lever, Head of Prudential Regulation, AFME and Jacqueline Mills, Director for Prudential Regulation at AFME, discuss the European Commission’s latest proposals to update the Capital Requirements Directive and Regulation (CRD5/CRR2). These proposals form part of the Commission’s Risk Reduction Measures package and cover the European implementation of several international standards from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision as well as the introduction of EU-specific measures.

AFME’s March Members' Briefing Call examines where we are with Capital Markets Union and explores the issue of Europe’s shortage of risk capital. Speakers include Robert van Geffen, Director, Policy, and Cedric Pacheco, Manager, Capital Markets at AFME with a guest presentation from Allen Simpson, Head of Public Policy, Barclays Corporate Banking and Chair of the AFME SME Working Group.

In February's briefing call Rob Morgan, Managing Director for Technology and Operations, AFME and Nick Forrest, Director, PwC discuss the findings from our latest report commissioned from PwC outlining the operational impacts of Brexit on wholesale banking and capital markets in Europe. The report, entitled “Planning for Brexit – Operational impacts on wholesale banking and capital markets in Europe”, aims to provide policymakers and other industry stakeholders with a fact-based analysis of how these challenges are likely to affect the financial markets industry.

"MiFID II will bring about significant impact on banks' and brokers' strategic operating models. Whereas MiFID I was aimed at creating a single European market in equities trading, MiFID II is very much a response to the financial crisis. It aims to increase investor protection and reduce systemic risks, primarily by increasing market transparency" - Julian Allen-Ellis, Director, MiFID. MiFID is arguably the largest and most impactful piece of legislation for the financial services industry in history and we are now under one year away from the implementation date. AFME's January Member Brieing call addresses some of the highly significant and challenging practical implications of the new rules for our industry and across Europe. Speakers include Julian Allen-Ellis, Director for MiFID and Pedro Pinto, Director for Advocacy at AFME.

'The benefits of capital markets to high potential EU economies' is a new report, written by AFME in collaboration with New Financial, and published in November 2016, which focuses on 11 high-potential economies (the EU11) in Central and Eastern Europe that could harness the capital markets to accelerate GDP and productivity growth throughout the region. The research measures the size, depth and growth potential of capital markets in the EU11 countries, examines their financial systems and reform programmes; and considers the outlook for long-term growth.

The October 2016 AFME member briefing call examined the framework of STS (Simple, Transparent and Standardised) Securitisation and its effectiveness in Europe. The call featured AFME's Richard Hopkin, Anna Bak and Alex Hunt.

The September 2016 AFME member briefing call focused on political dynamics in the EU and the resulting AFME advocacy approach. The call featured Simon Lewis, AFME's Chief Executive, and Tanguy van de Werve, Managing Director, Advocacy.

The July Members Briefing Call outlines the future for Europe's Capital Markets post-referendum. Speakers include Simon Lewis, Chief Executive, AFME and Chris Bates, partner, Clifford Chance LLP.

A successful securitisation framework is essential to the European Commission’s Capital Markets Union project. AFME experts weigh up the draft reports for securitisation by EP rapporteurs Paul Tang MEP (STS proposals) and Pablo Zalba MEP (CRR proposals).

Recorded in the run-up to the UK’s EU referendum, AFME experts discuss the implications of brexit for Europe’s capital markets and the options for UK-based finance institutions seeking to passport their services into the EU.