EU Finance - The Future of Finance

Special Edition - this episode being released outside the usual combination of podcast and monthly EU Finance Newsletter. It’s also special, because there’s been a massive uptick in Russian disinformation regarding sanctions, and the truth is needed to combat that as soon as possible. The latest false Russian narrative is that sanctions are not working. Article after article gets pushed to world m...

EU Finance Podcast host Aidas Palubinskas talks with Thomas Dodd, the EU Commission’s expert on corporate reporting about how someone who wants to invest sustainably can know if the investment is really green? Well, surprise, surprise!, the EU has once again stepped up to help us out. At the beginning of this year, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) entered into force. This ne...

In September 2020, the European Commission adopted the digital finance strategy to foster a more competitive and innovative European financial sector. The digital finance platform is part of this effort to support innovation in finance and build a true single market for digital financial services. EU Finance Podcast host Aidas Palubinskas chats with the EU Commission’s foremost expert on the digit...

Back in December of 2022, the EU decided to create a new role of International Special Envoy for the Implementation of EU Sanctions to ensure continuous, high-level discussions with third countries to avoid the evasion or even the circumvention of the unprecedented sanctions that have been imposed on Russia since the start of its brutal and illegal war against Ukraine and the West. EU Finance Podc...

Governments borrow. The EU borrows. It borrows to get stuff done. EU Finance Podcast host Aidas Palubinskas talks with Niall Bohan, the EU Commission’s Director for Asset, debt and financial Risk management in the Budget department. They walk through how the EU issues debt, how our bonds, EU bonds, work, why they work and why they’re a big, good deal. And they have some laughs along the way.

EU Finance Podcast host Aidas Palubinskas chats with Axel Fougner – the EU Commission’s foremost authority on the European Green Bond Standard. Axel gives Aidas an explanation about EUGBS, how it’s going to work, why it’s going to work, and who is going to make it work. If you’re green behind the ears about bonds that might help save the planet, this episode is for you. If you’re ready to go green...

Your intrepid EU Finance Podcast host Aidas Palubinskas has a quick-fire chat with Jenny Robertson, the head of the EU's Financial Markets Infrastructure unit. They're talking about something that deals with mind-boggling amounts of money. Tens of trillions of Euro. Yes, TENS of TRILLIONS of Euro. They're going to clear the air. They're going to clear the way to a better understand...

Brussels woke up to a clean blanket of snow this morning. It’s like there’s a beautiful single space, ready and waiting for new opportunities. Sounds like a metaphor for the EU, no? When your host Aidas Palubinskas came to work for DG FISMA, what he likes to call the EU’s Ministry of Finance - work on the Capital Markets Union – the CMU - was just getting started. The CMU is a big project, and can...

Instant coffee, instant oatmeal, instant mashed potatoes, instant gratification. We want it all, and we want it now. So, we’re going to talk about instant payments. On 26 October 2022, the European Commission put forward a legislative proposal on establishing instant payments. Wait, what? Don’t we already have that? Your host, Aidas Palubinskas, who knows just enough to get himself into trouble, t...

In response to the extremely volatile prices caused by Russia’s weaponisation of energy, on 18 October 2022, the EU Commission proposed a new emergency regulation to address high gas prices in the EU and ensure security of supply this winter. Aidas Palubinskas chats with the EU Commission’s Director General for Finance Sean Berrigan about the financial markets aspects.

Back in 2021, the European Commission presented an ambitious package of legislative proposals to strengthen the EU rules on anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing (AML/CFT). This included the proposal for the creation of a new EU authority to fight money laundering. Aidas Palubinskas talks with DG FISMA’s Deputy Director General Alexandra Jour Schroeder.

Letizia Lupini talks to Alain Deckers – head of the asset management unit – about what the EU is doing to promote sustainable finance and how investors can make sure they invest green.

Aidas Palubinskas talks to Jan Ceyssens about all things digital – including cryptocurrencies, cyber risks, the digital euro, privacy, and consent.

How do sanctions work? Do they work? How citizens and business can help them work?

Short episodes are released at the same time as the monthly EU Commission Finance Newsletter on topics related to banks, capital markets, insurance, digital or sustainable finance, anti-money laundering, sanctions, etc. The host of the podcast is not an expert, so tries to get the topics explained as simply as possible. The views expressed are those of the participants and not necessarily those of...