European deposit insurance: financing the transition. CEPS Commentary, 6 September 2012

Arguing that the planned move to put the ECB in charge of banking supervision would be incomplete without a European Deposit Insurance and Resolution Authority (EDIRA), Daniel Gros and Dirk Schoenmaker spell out in a new CEPS Commentary some underlying principles to guide a gradual transition under which only future risks would be shared while past losses would remain at the national level. They show that ultimately such a new institution would serve as a genuine source of confidence in the European banking system

Firmer foundations for a stronger European Banking Union. Bruegel Working Paper 2015/13, November 2015

The move to European Banking Union involving the supervision and resolution of banks at euro-area level was stimulated by the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area in 2012. However, the long-term objective of Banking Union is dealing with intensified cross-border banking.The share of the assets of national banking systems that come from other EU countries was rising before the financial and economic crisis of 2007, but went into decline thereafter in the context of a general retrenchment of international banking. Most recent data, however, suggests the decline has been halted. About 14 percent of the assets of banks in Banking Union come from other EU countries, while about a quarter of the assets of the top 25 banks in the Banking Union are held in other EU countries.While a crisis-prevention framework for the euro area has largely been completed, the crisis-management framework remains incomplete, potentially creating instability. There is no governance mechanism to resolve disputes between different levels of crisis-management agencies, and incentives to promote optimum oversight are lacking. Most importantly, risk-sharing mechanisms do not adequately address the sovereign-bank loop, with a lack of clarity about the divide between bail-in and bail-out.To complete Banking Union, the lender-of-last-resort and deposit insurance functions should move to the euro-area level, breaking the sovereign-bank loop. A fully-fledged single deposit insurance (and resolution) fund should be favoured over a reinsurance scheme for reasons of cost and simplicity

European insurance union and how to get there. Bruegel Policy Brief Issue 4 / December 2016

What are the arguments for and against centralisation of insurance supervision? What would be the scope of a possible insurance union, and what would the legal basis be? How rapid should the move to insurance union be? This Policy Brief sets out to answer these questions

A macro approach to international bank resolution. Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue n˚20 | July 2017

As regulators rush to strengthen banking supervision and implement bank resolution regimes, a macro approach to resolution is needed that considers both the contagion effects of bail-in and the continuing need for a fiscal backstop to the financial system. This can be facilitated through the completion of a banking union in which the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) becomes the fiscal backstop to the euro-area banking system

Sustainable investing: How to do it. Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue n˚23 | November 2018

Sustainable investment is gaining momentum in Europe, but its current proposed taxonomy might hinder innovation in the field. In this Policy Contribution, Dirk Schoenmaker advocates for an active investment approach with concentrated portfolios, and sets out a six-point plan for sustainable investing

What happened to global banking after the crisis? Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue n˚7 | 2017

The global financial crisis allegedly led to the end of global banking. However, we find that reports of the demise of global banking are premature. Among the global systemically important banks, we find that there has been a shift of business from the global European banks to the more domestic Asian banks, which are gradually increasing their global reach. The US banks have maintained their strong position. Within Europe, we find a mixed picture. The euro-area banks have maintained their global reach, while UK and Swiss banks have experienced a significant decline in their geographic reach

The impact economy: balancing profit and impact. Bruegel Working Paper July 2020.

How can governments and companies be jointly empowered to have a positive impact on the sustainable development goals? The current economic system is largely geared towards increasing economic growth. But this could come at the expense of rising social inequality and environmental degradation. This paper examines the link between economic system outcomes and corporate sustainability outcomes. We provide evidence that governments and companies can reinforce each other in their pursuit of sustainable development. Sustainable development is based on three pillars: economic, social and environmental. These pillars should be assessed and balanced in an integrated way. An impact economy, in which governments and companies balance profit and impact, is best placed to achieve the sustainable development goals

The impact of the legal and operational structures of euro-area banks on their resolvability. Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue n˚23 | 2016

Following the financial crisis, the question of how to handle a big bank’s collapse has come to the fore. This Policy Contribution evaluates the obstacles to resolvability that the legal and operational structures of the large euro-area banks could pose to the European Union’s new resolution regime