International
Noon
21 September 2026
International Current Affairs — 21 September 2026, Noon
21 September 2026
The Eurosystem launched Pontes on 21 September 2026, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced.
Pontes lets wholesale transactions in tokenised assets be settled in central bank money.
It is the first initiative under the Eurosystem's strategic programme for tokenised finance.
It builds on the Eurosystem's 2024 tests of distributed ledger technology (DLT) for central bank money settlement.
Services will be expanded gradually, with full implementation expected by 2028.
An initial group of market participants and DLT operators, including the European Investment Bank, KfW and Clearstream, has completed onboarding.
A wider DLT ecosystem is being developed under Appia, with a blueprint due by 2028.
Launched by:
Eurosystem (ECB)
Full implementation expected:
2028
Earlier DLT tests:
2024
Why it matters for exams: Central bank digital money, tokenisation and DLT are recurring topics in banking and economy papers.
UPSCBank
In plain words
Eurosystem The ECB together with the national central banks of euro-area countries — The monetary authority of the euro area.
DLT Distributed ledger technology — A shared, synchronised digital record kept across many computers; blockchain is one type.
Tokenisation Issuing or representing assets as digital tokens — Recording an asset such as a bond as a digital token, usually on a DLT network.
Central bank money Money that is a direct claim on a central bank — The risk-free settlement asset, such as reserves banks hold at the central bank.
21 September 2026
Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced fines totalling €403 million on Google Ireland Limited on 21 September 2026.
It found that Google infringed the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in processing location data.
The inquiry covered three features: 'Web & App Activity', 'Location History' and 'Location Accuracy', from 25 May 2018 to 4 February 2020.
The DPC, Google's Lead Supervisory Authority in the EU, opened the inquiry in February 2020 after complaints from consumer groups including BEUC.
Google has been ordered to bring its processing into compliance within 6 months.
The Irish Times reported it is the fourth-largest DPC fine under the GDPR; the largest remains Meta's €1.2 billion fine of 2023.
Total fine:
€403 million
Time to comply:
6 months
Inquiry opened:
February 2020
Period examined:
25 May 2018 to 4 February 2020
Why it matters for exams: GDPR enforcement, data-protection regulators and the lead-authority system are frequently linked to India's own data-protection law in exams.
Kerala PSCUPSCBank
In plain words
GDPR General Data Protection Regulation — EU law on personal data protection, applicable from 25 May 2018.
DPC Data Protection Commission — Ireland's national data-protection regulator.
Lead Supervisory Authority Lead Supervisory Authority under the GDPR — The regulator in the EU country of a firm's main establishment that leads cross-border GDPR cases.
BEUC European Consumer Organisation (Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs) — Umbrella body of European consumer groups.