In Germany, cash is the only unrestricted legal tender and still the most commonly used means of payment. Compared with non-cash means of payment, cash is an important corrective in payment transactions. No other non-cash means of payment achieves a similarly high level of inclusion and provides comparable protection of privacy. Nevertheless, the use of non-cash means of payment continues to increase in Germany. Card-based payment methods are of particular importance - either directly with the plastic card (debit or credit card) or with the virtual card via which non-cash payment methods are processed in the background, as is common in mobile payment and Internet payment methods.

BigTechs - large companies with established technology platforms such as Alibaba, Amazon, and Facebook - are now established players in payments. Given the increasing presence and market power of U.S. card providers and BigTechs, as well as the likely growing influence of Chinese BigTechs in payments, the question of how to preserve the European banking industry's ability to act will arise more strongly in the future.

The TAB report provides an overview of developments in payment transactions up to and including February 2021, examining and comparing the specific characteristics of cash and selected non-cash payment solutions as well as payment behavior in Germany, Sweden, and China. The brief study is rounded off by an examination of the changing power structure in payment transactions as a result of the emergence of new players and the reactions of traditional credit institutions and central banks to this.

The TAB report and the accompanying policy brief TAB-Fokus Nr. 37 (both currently only in German) are available online. An English translation of the TAB-Fokus will follow soon.

In addition, the financial sector is still undergoing a profound transformation process. The regulatory environment remains a headwind for financial institutions, and new technologies are changing the rules of the game. Populism and political and geopolitical uncertainties create additional challenges, curtailing investment and risk-taking. Finally, the ever-increasing focus for investors and corporations alike on topics around ESG – environmental, social, and governance – and sustainability brings with it a whole new set of challenges and opportunities that need to be navigated. An important element in successfully tackling these challenges is a healthy corporate culture that allows for the necessary change to happen – including an increase in female representation and a better gender balance in corporate board rooms.

This conference will present an outlook on these developments and their implications for the financial services industry and economies at large, primarily presented by leading female exponents of the financial services industry as well as key public authorities.

This statement, coming from a man who is not exactly known for his altruism and concern for the environment, might only have anecdotal value. But even anecdotes can be indicators. Cramer, after all, is not alone: At almost exactly the same time as Cramer was making his comments, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, wrote an open letter to the CEOs of the companies in which BlackRock invests – and that’s almost every listed company. In the letter, Fink talks of no less than “a fundamental reshaping of finance.” He says that because climate risks are investment risks, there is a need for transparency for shareholders on sustainability-related issues, and all investments must become more sustainable in general (Fink, 2020).

The warning signs are clear: Business as usual will not work. The rising gap between the wealthiest and poorest parts of society is made worse by a lot of the rent-seeking activities of the financial sector. It is also contributing to the increasingly present and worsening effects of climate change on the environment by supporting the brown economy, as brown projects are more profitable. This will not change whilst fossil fuel subsidies and a very low carbon price continue to exist. We are sleepwalking into future financial crises and environmental collapse. The financial firms that operate the system have not been held to account for the last crisis and are not being held to account for the current issues in the system. This has to change immediately if the system is going to change.

ICAP facilitates cooperation between countries, sub-national jurisdictions and supranational institutions that have established or are actively pursuing carbon markets through mandatory cap and trade systems. 

Founded in 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal, by leaders of more than 15 governments, ICAP provides the opportunity for member jurisdictions to share best practices and discuss ETS design elements with a view to creating a well-functioning global carbon market through linking ETS.

The work of ICAP focuses on the three pillars of technical dialogue, ETS knowledge sharing and capacity building activities.

How do we stimulate the investment needed to create a sustainable and digital Europe when economies are in crisis? What lessons can we draw from Europe’s first paradigm-changing financial initiative, the EFSI? How can we build on it and ensure its successor InvestEU will be efficient, fast and well targeted in its support?

Speakers include:

Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President for An Economy that Works for People, European Commission

Marcel Fratzscher, President, DIW Berlin

Werner Hoyer, President, European Investment Bank Group

Mariana Mazzucato, University College London

ITIF hosted a debate in which Acemoglu and Atkinson laid out their views about the future of automation technology and the effects it may have on U.S. competitiveness and the economy.

Speakers 

Bernie Becker

Tax Reporter, POLITICO, Moderator

Robert D. Atkinson

President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, Speaker

Daron Acemoglu

Institute Professor, MIT, Speaker

The day the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its 1.5-degree report, commissioned by the UN, was also the day William Nordhaus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics “for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis” as embodied in his influential Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy (DICE) model. The UN Paris Agreement called to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees to contain climate risks. Nordhaus’s numbers point to 3.5 degrees as the economically optimal warming by the year 2100. Now a new study published in Nature Climate Change has produced an update to the DICE model that can help to reconcile the camps.

This series of online events offers an opportunity for Parties and other stakeholders to continue exchanging views and sharing information in order to maintain momentum in the UNFCCC process and to showcase how climate action is progressing under the special circumstances the world is currently facing.

This will include advancing technical work under the constituted bodies, as well as providing a platform for information exchange and engagement on other work being done under the UNFCCC, including on adaptation, mitigation, science, finance, technology, capacity-building, transparency, gender, Action on Climate Empowerment, and the preparation and submission of nationally determined contributions. Formal negotiations and decision-making are not envisaged for these events; they will take place at the SB sessions in October of this year.

Speakers:

Luca Lo Re (IEA),

Hugh Salway (BEIS, UK),

Yongsik Choi (Korea),

Marta Martinez (Iberdrola),

Ana Quelhas (EDP).

Moderated by William Acworth (ICAP Secretariat).

In Reinventing Prosperity, Graeme Maxton and Jorgen Randers take a radically different approach and offer thirteen politically feasible proposals to improve our world. From shortening the work year and raising the retirement age to boosting welfare and redefining what we mean by work, the authors’ suggestions challenge many long-standing economic ideas and explain how it is possible to reduce unemployment, inequality, and the pace of climate change—and still have economic growth, if society wishes.

“Do you want a cogent and accessible explanation of why our paramount policy goal of GDP growth is increasing unemployment, inequality, and environmental destruction—while reducing welfare? Then read this informative book for both answers and better policies!” Herman Daly, Emeritus Professor, University of Maryland

“The problems society faces to achieve a sustainable and desirable future are well known, but solutions seem impossible. Maxton and Randers describe thirteen politically feasible proposals that can actually solve these problems.” Prof. Robert Costanza, VC’s Chair in Public Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University

“This book has the power to induce policy changes that are imperative for the creation of an equitable, peaceful and sustainable future for human society.” Rajendra K. Pachauri, past-chair, International Panel of Climate Change (IPCC); executive vice chairman, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

The Methodological Convention for Estimating Environmental Costs 3.0 included a large number of parameters to calculate the costs of environmental pollution. This included the costs of restoring damaged building and infrastructures, of the market value of crop losses and production losses, as well as the sum which people would be prepared to pay for the avoidance of damage to their health. The Methodological Convention 3.0 helps to compare and contrast the costs of environmental pollution and the costs of environmental protection.

Panellists :

• Simone d’Alessandro, University of Pisa -
• Daniel Mügge, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Professor of Political Arithmetic
• Bjorn Döhring, European Commission, Head of Unit for Economic situation, forecasts, business and consumer surveys
• Arthur Turrell, Co-Author of “An Interdisciplinary Model for Macroeconomics” (Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Jan.2018)
• Nicole Dewandre, European Commission, Joint Research Centre

Panellists:

• Denis Bouget, European Social Observatory, European Trade Union Institute, Emeritus Professor of Nantes University
• Clive Spash, WU Vienna University
• Anne Bucher, European Commission, Chair of the Scrutiny Regulatory Board
• Stefan Ulrich Speck, European Environment Agency, Projet manager (sustainability assessments)

Panellists:

• Fran Boait, Positive Money, Executive Director
• Josh Ryan-Collins, UCL Institution for Innovation and Public Purpose, Head of Research
• Thorsten Guthke, Association of German Public Banks, VÖB

Panellists:

• Martin Spolc, DG EcFin, Capital Markets Union, Head of Unit
• Rens van Tilburg, University van Utrecht, NL and Director of the Sustainable Finance Lab
• Yannis Dafermos, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK

Panellists: -

• Elisabeth Hege, IDDRI, Governance and financing of sustainable development
• Gaël Giraud, French Development Agency, senior economist
• Marco Buti, European Commission, Director General of DG EcFin

Panellists:

• Tove Maria Ryding,Tax Justice Coordinator at the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
• Sol Piciotto, Emeritus Professor of law of Lancaster University, Member of the Advisory Group of the International Centre for Tax and Development
• Richard Murphy, Professor of Practice in International Political Economy at City University, London and Director of Tax Research UK, Non-Executive Director of Cambridge Econometrics
• Philip Kerfs, OECD, Head of the International Cooperation division

In Reinventing Prosperity, Graeme Maxton and Jorgen Randers take a radically different approach and offer thirteen politically feasible proposals to improve our world. From shortening the work year and raising the retirement age to boosting welfare and redefining what we mean by work, the authors’ suggestions challenge many long-standing economic ideas and explain how it is possible to reduce unemployment, inequality, and the pace of climate change—and still have economic growth, if society wishes.