Mamma mia!

Mamma mia! is an Italian expression denoting various kind of emotions, i.e., surprise, disbelief, fear, rejection, joy… All these emotions were probably felt by (Belgian) soccer fans amongst you, when this week it was revealed that Radja ‘Ninja’ Nainggolan, currently midfielder for the Italian soccer team AS Roma, was not selected to be part of Belgium's World Cup squad that will compete in the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup. Whether you agree with the decision or not it did create a lot of debate amongst (Belgian) soccer enthusiasts with at times emotions running high. Mamma mia!

This week international markets also had their "Mamma mia!" moment with Italian politics taking centre stage. In Italy the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and Lega seemed to be on their way to forming a government with their proposals including amongst others a flat tax for households and companies, amendments to the 2011 pension reform,… On Europe, the coalition wishes to review EU budget rules and economic governance. The proposals could cost up to EUR 125bn (c.7% of GDP) according to independent estimates. As a result, the Italian bond market came under pressure with the Italian 10 year bond yield spiking to ˃2%, the highest it's been since March 2017 and the spread vs. German 10 year Bunds widening to ~200bps. It is believed that volatility on the Italian bond market could even increase over the summer as the ECB is expected to prepare for the end of its Quantitative Easing (QE) programme. However, the spread widening in the remaining Eurozone government bond universe has so far been relatively contained. During the weekend it became clear that no new government could be formed.

In a volatile trading week, the Ageas share eventually increased to EUR 45.65 (+1.4%) outperforming both the EuroStoxx 50 (-1.6%) & the SXIP 600 Insurance Index (-1.9%).

Another trending topic this week (undoubtedly you’ve received multiple notifications on this) was the official entry into force of GDPR or the General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR is considered to be the biggest change in European data-protection law in more than two decades and contains new and significantly stricter requirements for companies when dealing with personal data. Following the adoption of the GDPR in April 2016, the EU gave all parties concerned two years to prepare for the significantly stricter compliance requirements. The regulation’s focus is on demanding accountability from organisations into how they collect and process personal data. In case of breaches companies can face financial penalties of up to EUR 20 million or 4% of annual global turnover whichever is the greater.