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Business

Agreement close on banking regulations

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October 9th, 2013


This article is more than 11 years old.

Just fine points left to work out on oversight of major financial institutions

After as many as 14 meetings, Henrik Sass Larsen (Socialdemokraterne), the business and growth minister, is close to reaching an agreement with opposition parties Venstre, Konservative on a new ‘bank package’ – a raft of new regulations covering the country’s biggest banks and designed to prevent another financial crisis. Only minor points need to be worked out before the package can be presented to parliament for approval, according to TV2 News.

With the major parties already on board, approval of the bank deal is pretty much a formality and should happen before the end of the week.

“It looks good,” Hans Skibby, a Dansk Folkeparti spokesperson, told Politiken newspaper. “We need to get approval from our rank and file, so we haven’t signed off on it just yet.”

Liberal Alliance (LA), another opposition party, is also pleased with the outcome of Sass's negotiations. 

“He has done well during these negotiations,” LA spokesperson Joachim Olsen told Politiken. “I have no doubt that an agreement will be reached.”

Tighter, but not too tight, regulations
The nation’s major banks –DRL, Danske Bank, Nordea Danmark, Jyske Bank, BRF, Sydbank and Nykredit – are covered by the agreement, and Danske Bank in particular – the country’s largest – will be regulated more tightly than in the past, but not as tightly as the government had wanted.

The new rules would also establish a special board for financial watchdog group Finanstilsynet to oversee the credit sector.

Banking customers are unlikely to be significantly affected by the proposal.

“It is not going to change lending policies very much,” Michael Miller, a finance professor at Copenhagen Business School, told Berlingske newspaper. “It looks like the deal is very close to market expectations  and the major banks are already meeting those requirements.


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

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At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”