The UK Financial Sector and EU Integration after Brexit: The Issue of Passporting

If the UK cannot secure a ‘Norway’ deal and stay within the internal market after Brexit, the UK will lose passporting rights for EU financial services and access to euro clearing and settlement, both of which make London attractive as a financial centre. A substantial part of the UK’s wholesale banking and trading sector may move out

Cross-border Insurance in Europe

At the start of Solvency II in January 2016, there is no overview of the insurance market in Europe. This paper develops a methodology to link various data sets on foreign branches and subsidiaries. The result is a new and comprehensive data set of cross-border insurance in Europe. We find that cross-border business in insurance is higher than in banking. We also find that the share of cross-border insurance has increased over the last decade, notwithstanding the global financial crisis. EIOPA, the European supervisory authority, plays a coordinating role among the national supervisors in the approval of internal models under Solvency II. Game theory suggests that there are limits to the coordination model. The increasing share of cross-border insurance, documented in this paper, may tilt the supervisory balance from coordination towards centralisation in an Insurance Union

Macroprudential Supervision

Financial supervision focuses on the aggregate (macroprudential) in addition to the individual (microprudential). But an agreed framework for measuring and addressing financial imbalances is lacking. We propose a holistic approach for the financial system as a whole, beyond banking. Building on our model of financial amplification, the financial cycle is the key variable for measuring financial imbalances. The cycle can be curbed by leverage restrictions that might vary across countries. We make concrete policy proposals for the design of macroprudential instruments to simplify the current framework and make it more consistent

Data on cross-border exposures of 61 largest European banks

This article introduces a unique and hand-collected dataset on cross-border exposures of 61 European banks. Getting a complete overview of the cross-border positions of European banks is challenging, as there are no regular reporting standards for banks’ foreign exposures split by country. Most studies therefore rely on data on banks’ foreign subsidiaries. This however leads to a significant underestimation of banks’ cross-border positions. We collect data from annual reports and other public sources for the period 2010-2017 in order to construct a dataset covering the complete cross-border exposures by banks. The dataset is valuable to academic researchers in finance and economics as well as central banks interested in financial globalization. The data are collected at the

Investing for long-term value creation

In the transition to a sustainable economy, companies are increasingly adopting the goal of long-term value creation, which integrates financial, social and environmental value. However, institutional investors struggle to invest for long-term valu

Greening monetary policy

While there is increasing interest in decarbonizing or greening monetary policy, central banks are keen to maintain market neutrality. However, there is evidence that the market has a bias towards carbon-intensive companies. The paper develops a method to tilt the European Central Bank’s (ECB) asset and collateral framework towards low-carbon assets. We find that a medium tilting approach reduces carbon emissions in the ECB’s corporate and bank bond portfolio by over 50%. We show that a low carbon allocation can be done without undue interference with the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. Key policy insights The ECB’s asset and collateral portfolio for monetary policy operations is overweight in high carbon companies. A medium tilting approach towards low-carbon companies reduces carbon emissions by 55% in the ECB's portfolio. It also reduces the cost of capital for low carbon companies. This is an incentive for high carbon companies to reform and adopt low carbon technologies

Greening Monetary Policy

While there is increasing interest in decarbonising or greening monetary policy, central banks are keen to maintain market neutrality. However, there is evidence that the market has a bias towards carbon-intensive companies. The paper develops a method to tilt the European Central Bank’s (ECB) asset and collateral framework towards low-carbon assets. We find that a medium tilting approach reduces carbon emissions in the ECB’s corporate and bank bond portfolio by over 50%. We show that a low carbon allocation can be done without undue interference with the transmission mechanism of monetary policy

Should Denmark and Sweden Join the Banking Union?

An important policy discussion on joining the banking union is currently taking place in Denmark and Sweden. In this article we review the pros and cons of joining. The main rationale for joining the banking union is the importance of cross-border banking in the EU internal market. Reviewing the banking systems, we find that banks in Denmark and Sweden have the same cross-border characteristics as those in the euro area countries, suggesting a similar rationale for joining the banking union. Moreover, both countries have large banks which may be too big to save at country level, but not at the banking union level. Nevertheless, there are some governance concerns. While euro area countries have an automatic and full say in all banking union arrangements, the non-euro area countries (the ‘out’ countries) lack certain formal powers in ultimate decision-making; however, we find that this may be less of a problem in practice. If necessary, the ‘out’ countries would have the ‘nuclear option’ of leaving the banking union