The push for ‌financial market players to be supervised at a European Union rather than national level is part of the EU’s plan to redirect trillions of its citizens’ savings, now idling in bank deposits, into more productive investment in Europe

International News via Reuters:

Finance ministers from the EU’s six biggest economies (E6) agreed among themselves on Friday to support more centralised capital markets supervision, in a breakthrough crucial for deeper integration of Europe’s fragmented capital markets.

The push for ‌financial market players to be supervised at a European Union rather than national level is part of the EU’s plan to redirect trillions of its citizens’ savings, now idling in bank deposits, into more productive investment in Europe.

Access to such a large amount of capital for investment would boost the bloc’s chances of competing against the United States and ​China.

Supervision of significant market infrastructure would be gradually transferred to the European Securities and Markets Authority in Paris, the finance ministers of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands agreed after they met in Berlin on Thursday to discuss the issue.

The issue of handing over local powers to supervise trading platforms, central counterparties and central securities depositories to the EU has been difficult because of vested national interests and opposition from Ireland and Luxembourg and initially Germany.

But the issue will be decided by qualified majority, meaning it needs the support of 15 out of the EU’s 27 countries representing 65% of the bloc’s population.

With the backing of the E6, which represent 70% of the EU’s population, centralised supervision is now much more likely to happen.

“The fact that the EU’s six largest economies are prepared to leave national self-interest behind and move forward together is an important signal for the entire European Union,” German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said in a statement.

ACCOUNTABILITY MUST BE ENFORCED

The European Commission presented its plan to better integrate EU capital markets in December, and Germany’s finance minister has said he expects the package to be adopted by the end of this year.

“In an uncertain international context, Europe needs deeper and more integrated capital markets,” Spanish Finance Minister Carlos Cuerpo said. “This joint positioning is a decisive step towards a true savings and investment union.”

ESMA’s governance structure must be set up efficiently: expertise, supervisory and market experience, and geographical balance should play a decisive role, the ministers agreed in a paper seen by Reuters on Friday.

In addition, costs must be kept under control and accountability must be enforced, the joint paper said about the ESMA.

However, the paper said that in their current form and size, German trading venues would currently not be subject to mandatory European supervision.athorities over trading in crypto-assets, and to reduce barriers to cross-border funds to help company financing, according to the paper. 

Reporting by Maria Martinez, Friederike Heine and Kirsti Knolle in Berlin, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Victoria Waldersee in Madrid, Writing by Madeline Chambers, Editing by Friederike Heine, Kirsten Donovan

Wang said he thought Canada’s exports to China could increase by 100%, building on momentum between the countries

International News via Reuters:

China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi said on Friday that Canada could surpass its goal of increasing exports to China by 50% by 2030 during a meeting with Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand.

Wang said he thought Canada’s exports to China could increase by 100%, building on momentum between the countries. 

Wang is on a three-day visit to Canada, the first visit by a Chinese foreign minister in a decade and the latest step to improve ties. 

Wang is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT), the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Canada and China struck an initial trade deal in January to slash tariffs on electric vehicles and canola, when Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to visit China since 2017. 

China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, and Carney has sought to reduce his country’s overwhelming reliance on the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, a longtime ally. 

“Canada is focused on growing our economy and diversifying our trading relationships,” Anand said during the meeting.

“The Canada-China economic relationship is significant,” she said.

The two ministers met after the Canadian warship HMCS Charlottetown completed a routine transit ⁠through the Taiwan Strait on May 23. China said on Friday it firmly ​opposes any attempt by any country to ‌undermine its sovereignty and security “under the pretext of freedom of navigation.”

Reporting by Promit Mukherjee, Daphne Psaledakis and Frances Gao; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Rod Nickel

Sources had said a deal was in the offing to extend a truce in place since early April for another 60 days to allow oil and gas shipments to resume through the strategic waterway

International News via Reuters:

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would make a final decision on Friday over a deal with Iran to extend their ceasefire that would need to include opening the Strait of Hormuz and dismantling Tehran’s capacity to make a nuclear weapon. 

“I will be meeting now, in the Situation Room, to make a final determination,” he said, referring to the White House’s nerve centre for monitoring global crises.  

Sources had said a deal was in the offing to extend a truce in place since early April for another 60 days to allow oil and gas shipments to resume through the strategic waterway while negotiators tackle tricky issues such as Iran’s nuclear program.

“Iran must agree that they will never have a Nuclear Weapon or Bomb. The Hormuz Strait must be immediately open, no tolls, for unrestricted shipping traffic, in both directions,” Trump said, adding that nuclear material would be “unearthed” by the U.S. 

Earlier, Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf had sounded sceptical.

“We do not trust guarantees and words, only actions are the criterion. No action will be taken before the other side acts,” Qalibaf said in a social media post, without elaborating.

“The winner of any agreement is the one who is better prepared for war the day after.”

Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency, citing sources, said there was a “mixture of truth and falsehood” in Trump’s comments which were an “attempt to portray a fabricated victory.”

After the U.S. lifts its blockade on Iranian ships, the strait would be reopened under Tehran’s arrangements, Fars said.

There was no provision to destroy nuclear materials in the sides’ Memorandum of Understanding, the agency said, though there was agreement to release $12 billion from Iran’s frozen assets.

THOUSANDS DEAD, GLOBAL ECONOMY SUFFERING

The war launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and caused global economic pain by pushing up energy prices due to Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices fell and stocks rose on Friday over the potential deal. [MKTS/GLOB]

In his post on Truth Social, Trump said mines would be removed from the strait and ships trapped there may start to go home: “Say HELLO to your wives, husbands, parents, and families from me, your favorite President!”

He added that no money would be exchanged “until further notice” – a possible reference to Iran’s demands for toll payments in the strait, war damage reparations or a release of Iranian funds frozen abroad.  

Kazakhstan has signalled it is willing to take Tehran’s stockpile of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels if the U.S. reaches a deal with Iran, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, told the Financial Times.

Kazakhstan hosts an internationally controlled bank of low-enriched uranium to ensure fuel supplies for power stations in International Atomic Energy Agency member states.

In further diplomatic movement, the foreign minister of mediator Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, arrived in Washington on Friday for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Iran also wants sanctions lifted, U.S. forces withdrawn from the region, and for any peace deal also to end U.S. ally Israel’s offensive in Lebanon.

Israel has displaced hundreds of thousands of people with a push deep into Lebanon in pursuit of Iran’s main ally, the Hezbollah group.

 Israeli strikes have pummelled Lebanon’s south and east plus its capital Beirut, killing more than 3,200 people, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Israel says 23 of its soldiers and four civilians have been killed over the same period.

Reporting by Reuters’ bureaux; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Sanjeev Miglani