On 16th November 2009, SUERF, CEPS and the Belgian Financial Forum coorganized a conference "Crisis management at cross-roads" in Brussels. All papers in the present volume are based on contributions at the conference and the SUERF Annual Lecture which followed the event.

This paper aims at providing a complete picture of banking mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in Europe during the 1990s and at offering economic evaluation and strategic analyses of the process. The main characteristics of this process in the 1990s were the emergence of " mega banks" at the...

The rhythm of financial development in south-eastern Europe has accelerated. In a setting of low inflation and robust growth, domestic credit and cross-border flows are expanding. This process can strengthen real convergence by supporting productivity gains that enhance competitiveness and a...

1) The Adoption of the Euro by New Member States: Challenges and Vulnerabilities by Michael C. Bonello 2) The Economics of Offshore Financial Services and the Choice of Tax, Currency, and Exchange-Rate Regimes by George M. von Furstenberg 3) Promoting Integration of European Retail Payment...

1) Stability Oriented Monetary and Prudential Policies in EU Accession Countries, by Michael C. Bonello 2) Ensuring Financial Stability: Global and European Perspectives, by Fabrizio Saccomanni 3) Foreign Bank Ownership: A Bonus or Threat for Financial Stability? by Claudia M. Buch, Jörn...

This study presents two tests of the hypothesis that adoption of an internal ratings-based approach to determining minimum capital requirements, proposed as part of the Basel II capital accord, would cause adopting banking organizations to increase their acquisition activity. The study employs...

1) Are Italian mutual banks efficient? Evidence from two different cost frontier techniques, by Juan Sergio Lopez, Alessandra Appenini, and Stefania P.S. Rossi. The aim of the first paper is to analyze the efficiency of co-operative banks in Italy. The increasing competition induced by the...

The investigation of the sequencing of liberalization in the EU financial services industry is the primary object of this study. The relevance of the EU model for financial liberalization is threefold. First, the EU route towards liberalization in financial services could be regarded as a...

Over millennia, mankind has used hard cash in various forms ranging from shells to gold coins and paper. More recently, cash has become unpopular in political circles, as it effectively restricts states’ power to tax (explicitly or via negative interest rates) or to survey and potentially...

On 3 July 2015, SUERF organized its sixth joint conference with the Bank of Finland in Helsinki on the subject of liquidity and market efficiency. The one-day program consisted of an opening speech, six presentations, including three keynotes, and a lunchtime address. The present SUERF Study...