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EU Geopolitical Risk Update - Key Policy & Regulatory Developments No. 120
This regular alert covers key policy and regulatory developments related to EU geopolitical risks, including in particular, economic security, Russia’s war against Ukraine, health threats, and cyber threats. It does not purport to provide an exhaustive overview of developments.
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Regulatory monitoring: EU version Newsletter - March 2025
1. Bank regulation - 1.1 PRUDENTIAL REGULATION - a) General (i) EU - EBA: Updated methodology on the regulatory and supervisory equivalence of non-EU countries - Status: Final - The EBA has published its updated methodology for the assessment of regulatory and supervisory frameworks of non-EU countries. The changes seek to reflect amendments to the revised CRR and CRD. The EBA states that it has also streamlined its questionnaire to improve the user experience. Date of publication: 24/03/2025 - (ii) International -
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Regulatory monitoring - March 2025
1. Bank regulation - 1.1 PRUDENTIAL REGULATION - a) General - (i) EU - EBA: Updated methodology on the regulatory and supervisory equivalence of non-EU countries - Status: Final - The EBA has published its updated methodology for the assessment of regulatory and supervisory frameworks of non-EU countries. The changes seek to reflect amendments to the revised CRR and CRD. The EBA states that it has also streamlined its questionnaire to improve the user experience. Date of publication: 24/03/2025 - (ii) International -
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EU penalizes RPM and other vertical conduct violations
The level of fines imposed for infringements relating to vertical and other non-cartel conduct increased ten-fold in 2024, reversing a trend of decline in recent years. This rise can be attributed in part to the overall number of decisions recorded in our dataset (101) being the highest in recent years. The uptick in fines has coincided with authorities taking a less conciliatory approach when penalizing infringements—just 38% of decisions in 2024 involved settlement or other forms of cooperation, down from 61% in 2023 and 42% in 2022.
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EU leads global charge as abuse of dominance cases target Big Tech
2024 saw a significant increase in the total fines imposed in abuse of dominance cases compared to 2023, reversing a trend of decline in recent years. The rise in fine volumes was spread across all regions of the world, with the exception of APAC. While in previous years we have observed an increasing trend towards authorities resolving abuse of dominance cases through commitments, in lieu of fines, 2024 saw some reversal of this trend, with a notable decrease in the percentage of cases involving commitments (26% in 2024, down from 41% in 2023). In addition, overall fine levels rose despite an uptick in settlement proceedings (11% in 2024 compared to 2% in 2023).
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MiCAR under the microscope - Part 7: Prudential and capital requirements for issuers of ARTs and CASPs
In this edition of our "MiCAR under the microscope" series, we examine the prudential requirements, with a specific focus on the capital requirements that are applicable to issuers of ARTs and EMTS and CASPs under Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 on Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCAR). Requirements - As part of the MiCAR framework, ARTs and CASPs must comply with specific prudential and capital requirements that reflect the different nature and risks of their activities. These requirements vary depending on the market, credit, operational, and liquidity risk that each category entity faces. In the following sections, we will explain how these requirements apply respectively to ARTs, EMTs and CASPs.
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EU antitrust fines soar amid uncertain global enforcement outlook
2024 saw a significant increase in overall global fines for antitrust enforcement, with total penalties for the jurisdictions surveyed in our report at USD6.7 billion, over double that of 2023 (USD2.9bn) and substantially higher than 2022 (USD3.5bn). Notably, this increase was largely due to a marked uptick in abuse of dominance fines (USD4.3bn in total), with the bulk of these coming from European Commission (EC) decisions (USD3.4bn). However, while vertical (and other non-cartel) conduct fines were also up year-on-year (USD1.8bn, up from USD195 million in 2023), fines for cartel enforcement saw a marked decrease (USD602.5m, compared to USD1.9bn in 2023), reflecting a continued downward trend.
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Private damages activity escalates across key jurisdictions
In the EU, the surge in private damages actions following the transposition of the Private Damages Directive (PDD) at member state level has brought to the fore several novel legal questions, prompting national courts to regularly seek guidance from the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In seeking to strike a balance between facilitating claims and promoting legal certainty, the ECJ has tended to favor the former. However, there is a concern that, if the threshold for obtaining damages in the EU is set too low, partly in response to the frequent inequality of arms between individual plaintiffs and well-funded corporate defendants, it could undermine incentives to apply for leniency, to the detriment of public enforcement. It is hoped that, as more member states introduce collective redress mechanisms, this will support a robust approach by courts to burden and standard of proof, including in relation to evidence of quantum by plaintiffs.
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Global antitrust enforcement report - 2025
2024 saw a significant increase in overall global fines for antitrust enforcement, with total penalties for the jurisdictions surveyed in our report at USD6.7 billion, over double that of 2023 (USD2.9bn) and substantially higher than 2022 (USD3.5bn). Notably, this increase was largely due to a marked uptick in abuse of dominance fines (USD4.3bn in total), with the bulk of these coming from European Commission (EC) decisions (USD3.4bn). However, while vertical (and other non-cartel) conduct fines were also up year-on-year (USD1.8bn, up from USD195 million in 2023), fines for cartel enforcement saw a marked decrease (USD602.5m, compared to USD1.9bn in 2023), reflecting a continued downward trend. Although we always caution against drawing significant inferences from year-on-year changes, the impact of the wider scrutiny of digital markets on this year’s dataset is impossible to miss. Fines on Big Tech alone amounted to approximately USD3bn, nearly 50% of the overall fine total.
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Surge in dawn raid activity signals stricter antitrust scrutiny
2024 saw a continued trend of heightened dawn raid activity by antitrust authorities across the globe. Of the 31 jurisdictions surveyed, 24 (77%) confirmed that the regulator had carried out dawn raids during the course of 2024, conducting in total more than 70 raids. Within Europe, the European Commission (EC) carried out unannounced antitrust inspections in several member states at the premises of companies active in various sectors, including new replacement tires, financial derivatives, and data center construction. The inspections were conducted in conjunction with relevant national antitrust authorities. In the U.K., the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into suspected bid-rigging in relation to a government fund for improving the condition of school buildings, carrying out unannounced inspections at several business premises in December 2024. In October 2024, the EU and the U.K. government announced the conclusion of technical negotiations for a future competition cooperation agreement that is expected to allow the EC, EU member state antitrust authorities, and the CMA to cooperate directly in antitrust investigations.