Trésorier/Treasurer magazine - N°84 - Jan/Feb/Mar 2014 - (Page 5)

ONLINE FR/EN EDITORIAL VERSION An endless day ... Without fail, the deadlines for bringing in the new regulations are put back. This gives an impression of disarray and gives the wrong signals to the people involved, making them think that they will always be given extra time and that there is no rush to comply. Think about the well-known deadline for SEPA, the "final end-date", which was put back time and again and finally took six years actually to happen. By putting back the start date for reporting to ESMA under EMIR recently, a further signal of confusion and disorganisation was given. This is a pity for those who are trying to prepare as best they can and are at the mercy of the whims of the European administration, which is overloaded and understaffed. Finding that the reporting requirements have officially been put back to January 2014, and that ESMA itself is thought to have asked the Commission to put it back even further to 1st January 2015, is something that worries conscientious treasurers. The regulators' lack of preparedness is probably the reason for these repeated delays. But a blind rush is no solution either. It just gives the illusion that at the end of the day there will be time to adapt. Some innocents still think that the date of 1st February 2014 for applying the SEPA format will be deferred again. Some of them will unfortunately receive a nasty shock, because the SEPA deadline will not be put back again. Repeated postponements give the wrong signals to those who are lazy and reactive, and discourage the more courageous who are proactive. However we look at it, it is high time that the measures decided upon by the G20 should be finalised, to avert systemic risk as far as that is possible. There can be no justification for repeated delays if they thereby become systematic. So let us hope that tomorrow, when Phil the treasurer awakes, the groundhog Barnier will give birth to his regulations. LE MAGAZINE DU TRESORIER / TREASURER MAGAZINE - N°84 - JAN I like to compare these new regulations to a film with Bill Murray, «Groundhog Day". If you remember, some twenty years ago, Phil Connors played the part of the martyr of a day that never ended, that continuously and unfailingly repeated itself day after day. It was an absolute horror for this unfortunate weatherman. In the financial version, in the role of Phil Connors we have the corporate treasurer, in the role of the groundhog the European Commissioner, Michel Barnier, and in the role of the town of Punxsutawney, the European world of finance. Everyone is waiting for the groundhog to come out of its burrow to predict when spring will come, early or late. Unfortunately, it would seem that the Commissioner is in no hurry to come out of his burrow. / FEV / MAR 2014 On 15 September 2013 we sombrely celebrated the fifth anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. It was a disaster, the loss of a longstanding institution and a bastion of Wall Street which will forever be a landmark in the history of economics and the world of finance. But what has happened over these last few years? Have you seen - in Europe at least - measures taken, Directives or new financial regulations put in place? No, it would seem that like sister Anne watching out for help to come in Perrault's tales, we are desperately waiting for financial regulations to arrive at last, but we cannot see them approaching. It is like the gestation period of a mammoth, one of the most painful birth processes, and I fear that at the end of the day the disappointment will be as big as the wait was long (all too long). The European Commission seems to be entangled in administrative convolutions, or maybe it has other fish to fry. When all is said and done, we have got nowhere. This is sad, since the pressure seems to be off, and the process has largely run out of steam. François Masquelier, Chairman of ATEL 5

Table des matières de la publication Trésorier/Treasurer magazine - N°84 - Jan/Feb/Mar 2014

Couverture
SOMMAIRE
EDITORIAL
FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Luxembourg Tax News
INTERVIEW Martin Sadleder- Treamo Business Consulting
FOCUS
FORUM
CORPORATE FINANCE
15 MINUTES WITH CRX Markets
NEWS
THE FINANCIAL RISK OBSERVATORY

Trésorier/Treasurer magazine - N°84 - Jan/Feb/Mar 2014