The supervision of mixed financial services groups in Europe

Over time, the banking, insurance and securities sectors have become increasingly interlinked and one way through which this occurs is via financial conglomerates. Such groups, in particular those that combine banking and insurance, have over time become more important in Europe. They require an appropriate regulatory and supervisory set-up to deal with the specific risks they raise. In the EU, this regulatory set-up was introduced with the Financial Conglomerates Directive (2002) and which Member States are now implementing into national law. The Directive introduces a regime of supplementary supervision, in addition to the one that already exists for the regulated entities of the conglomerate. The Directive covers areas such a capital requirements, intra-group transactions, large exposures, organisational requirements and information exchange between authorities. The paper further compares the regime in the US and the EU. It concludes with issues that might require attention from authorities in the future.cross-sector risk, European Union, financial conglomerate, financial regulation, financial supervision.

Hedge funds and their implications for financial stability

The paper provides an overview of the hedge fund industry, mainly from a financial stability and European angle. It is primarily based on an extensive analysis of information from the TASS database. On the positive side of the financial stability assessment, hedge funds have a role as providers of diversification and liquidity, and they contribute to the integration and completeness of financial markets. Possible negative effects occur through their impact on financial markets (e.g. via crowded trades) and financial institutions (e.g. via prime brokerage). Several initiatives have been launched to address these concerns and most of them follow indirect regulation via banks. If any direct regulation were to be considered, it would probably have to be implemented in a coordinated manner at the international level. At the EU level there is currently no common regulatory regime, although some Member States have adopted national legislation.Asset management, crowded trades, financial regulation, financial stability, hedgefunds, prime brokerage, risk management.

Banking integration in the euro area

This paper provides an assessment of the degree of integration in banking services in the euro area. It diverges from the typical analysis on integration in the financial sector by focusing on the main financial products and services provided by banks to corporate and personal clients rather than on financial markets. As the “law-of-one-price” concept is often not applicable to banking products and services, a wide range of quantitative and qualitative indicators of integration is used in the analysis. Indicators of integration are reviewed for three product areas: wholesale (unsecured interbank loans and deposits, repo market) capital market-related (corporate finance services, asset management and trading) and retail (directed to households and small firms). The main conclusions are that while the market on wholesale banking services is strongly integrated and integration is advancing at a fast pace in capital market-related activities, market segmentation is still significant at the retail level.

Realistic CT image simulation tools for laboratory based X-ray CT at UGCT

In laboratory based X-ray Computed Tomography (CT), the grey values in the resulting CT image depend on several scanning conditions such as the emitted spectrum, the response characteristics of the detector and beam filtration. Furthermore, due to beam hardening also the morphology and composition of the sample itself will have a significant influence. Therefore, to optimise scanning conditions simulations which incorporate all factors determining the imaging process are required. In this paper, two programs developed at the Centre for X-ray Tomography of the Ghent University (UGCT) are presented which allow a complete and realistic simulation of the obtained CT image

Digital strategies to support adherence to medication in asthma and COPD

The first part of this dissertation describes the global variation in the prevalence of asthma and the associated direct and indirect costs. Indirect costs of asthma and COPD were then further examined. It was found that asthma and COPD patients have a much higher absenteeism rate than people without these diseases. Since (lack of) adherence is one of the factors that can be influenced and affects the health and well-being of asthma and COPD patients, an overview of interventions to improve adherence was made and a practical adherence toolkit was designed: the "TAI Toolkit." The TAI Toolkit was then applied in combination with a new digital attachment chamber. This "smart" spacer can measure both the time and quality of drug inhalation. The "OUTERSPACE" proof-of-concept study in COPD patients demonstrated a significant reduction in inhalation errors of more than 30%. Digital intake data correlated well with drug exposure in head hair.A protocol for the second OUTERSPACE study was then formulated, this time in "real-world" asthma patients in primary care. In the protocol-based randomized controlled trial, inhalation errors decreased by 26.2% in the intervention group, while in the usual care group they increased by 14.6%, a significant difference. The discussion elaborates on the different types of therapy non-adherence and the concept of patient empowerment". It is postulated that medication use should be more conditional and that digital tools, if properly implemented, can support the optimization of asthma/COPD care

Real-time, high speed, high resolution, 4D CT at laboratory setups

Performing CT experiments on samples that are morphologically changing shape as a function of time is not straightforward, especially if the modifications happen in a short period of time and the altering structures are relatively small. These kind of experiments are challenging as large amounts of data are generated in a short amount of time and it is difficult to target the right time period where the change of interest can be observed. Additionally, hardware limitations in terms of acquisition speed and sufficient X-ray flux are problematic, especially at laboratory setups. Here we present some CT-results where a time resolution of 1sec is achieved over a period of 2 min using a combination of hard- and software that is specifically designed for high speed, high resolution, 4D CT