This paper discusses the role of the credit rating agencies during the recent financial crises. In particular, it examines whether the agencies can add to the dynamics of emerging market crises. Academics and investors often argue that sovereign credit ratings are responsible for pronounced...

We provide a comprehensive analysis of the determinants of trading in the sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) market, using weekly data for single-name sovereign CDS from October 2008 to September 2015. We describe the anatomy of the sovereign CDS market, derive a law of motion for gross...

We investigate the incentives for vertical or horizontal integration in the financial security service industry, consisting of trading, clearing and settlement. We thereby focus on firms’ decisions but also look on the implications of these decisions on competition and welfare. Our analysis...

Die Distributed Ledger- bzw. Blockchain-Technologie führt zu einer zunehmenden Dezentralisierung von Finanzdienstleistungen ("Decentralised Finance"), die weitgehend ohne die Einschaltung von Finanzintermediären angeboten werden können. Dazu trägt wesentlich die sog. "Tokenisierung" von...