The European Union is currently making significant strides to lead on green finance and align its financial system with its climate, sustainability and clean energy ambitions. The Paris Climate Agreement, the G20 Green Finance Study Group and the G19 Hamburg Climate and Energy Action Plan have...

After a long period in which state-led development was the dominant economic paradigm, since the 1980s private sector development has been the focus for economic policy makers. It is probably no coincidence that economic growth, stagnant for a few decades in much of the developing world, took...

Companies' access to finance has a significant impact on their profitability and growth prospects. Without external financing, most firms are not able to invest, which is a prerequisite for economic growth. In contrast to the US, which has a capital market-based financial system, banks are the...

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on fiscal consolidation and the questionable effectiveness of the Stability and Growth Pact by addressing the problem of economic governance in the EMU with a game-theoretic principal-agent approach. Following the theory of delegation, we develop a...

Die große Stabilität des deutschen Wohnimmobilienfinanzierungsmarktes lässt es fraglich erscheinen, ob makroprudenzielle Instrumente tatsächlich benötigt werden und ob deren gesellschaftliche Kosten den Nutzen für die Finanzstabilität nicht überschreiten. Wenn solche Gesetze eingeführt...

The study of non-performing loans (NPLs) is highly relevant when looking for a solution to the ongoing structural weaknesses in the Euro area banking sectors, especially in light of the planned completion of the banking union and the introduction of a European Deposit Insurance System (EDIS)....

Islamic finance is one of the most rapidly growing sectors in recent years. During the last decade the global value of Islamic assets has grown at yearly the pace of 10-12 per cent. Sharia compliant products, which are not based on the interest rate, has become popular also in non-Muslim...

This study identifies five distinctive stages of the current global financial crisis: the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market, spillovers into broader credit market, the liquidity crisis epitomized by the fallout of Northern Rock, Bear Stearns with contagion effects on other financial...

This paper focuses on roots of strain in the European Monetary Union (EMU). It argues that there is need for a thorough reform of the governance structure of the Union in conjunction with radical changes in the regulation and supervision of financial markets. Financial intermediation has gone...

The aim of this study is to undertake an up-to-date assessment of market power in Central and Eastern European banking markets and explore how the global financial crisis has affected market power and what has been the impact of foreign ownership. Three main results emerge. First, while there is...