Mizuho Bank Europe Annual Report 2018

25 2018 ANNUAL REPORT business of MBE and Mizuho Bank and we will continue to closely cooperate with our group company. Finally, it should be noted that one of the preparatory measures MBE has taken in light of a potential ‘hard Brexit’ is to apply for a long-term and short-term issuer credit rating from S&P Global Ratings. The rating is expected to be issued in March 2019. Increased GeopoliticalTensions Whereas 2017 saw an increase in various geopolitical tensions, most notably between the United States and North Korea, we noticed a remarkable increase in risks stemming from the introduction of tariffs and the likelihood of trade wars increasing in 2018. Under the presidency of Mr. Trump in the United States there has been a fairly large number of industries hit by the introduction of American trade tariffs, some of which were retaliated by trade tariffs of other countries. This situation led to uncertainty in the global (financial) markets and casted shadow over the growth opportunities of the global economy in 2018 and 2019. MBE pro-actively monitored the developments and on various occasions discussed the impact of these tensions in its Risk Committee and other risk management related committees (e.g. Portfolio Management Committee). At current no direct or indirect impact on MBE’s portfolio was observed. While the Management Board does not believe this presents significant risks, we will continue to closely monitor the situation. Regulatory Changes As with any other financial institution in Europe and across the globe, MBE continues to be subject to ever increasing levels of various new and modified financial regulations. The past year again proved to be an intensive year of ensuring that regulations are fully understood and subsequently implemented. Much of MBE’s focus was delivering MiFID II, AnaCredit and GDPR. MBE delivered the AnaCredit project in September 2018 and the tremendous effort and time spent on this project was rewarded with a first fully automated and successful reporting to DNB in October 2018. Work is also continuing on implementing the changes brought forward under the revised Deposit Guarantee Scheme (DGS) and the coming into effect of the Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2). MBE delivered the DGS Individueel Klanten Bestand (IKB) file to DNB in December 2018 and by doing so met another important and challenging milestone in continuously being able to deliver regulatory implementation projects. MBE continues to monitor any regulatory changes affecting the bank by holding periodic or ad hoc meetings to analyze and discuss impacts of new or changes to existing regulations. One of the key changes for the coming year 2019 will be the implementation of the revised Interest Rate Risk in the Banking Book (IRRBB) Guidelines as published by the European Banking Authority (EBA) in July 2018. Initial preparations for this implementation were started in Autumn 2018. Although MBE adopts the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the Netherlands for its financial and regulatory reporting, we have been discussing the introduction of IFRS 9 for certain elements of reporting with DNB. As a result we expect to make changes to our accounting and regulatory framework, incl. the implementation of an Expected Credit Loss (ECL) model in 2019. 3.5.5.4 Financial Position MBE maintains a mid-term business and capital plan as a part of our ICAAP process and we have examined the impact to our profitability and capital adequacy under the stressed environment. Based on this, the Management Board believes that MBE is able to maintain a sound financial position in the mid-term, even under stress.