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...

Accounting standard setters are considering the wider use of fair value accounting. This paper focuses on the financial stability implications of a move in the banking sector from the current accounting framework to full fair value accounting. A simulation exercise is performed on how various...

In this paper, we present a set of specific measures to quantify the state and evolution of financial integration in the euro area. Five key markets are considered, namely the money, corporate bond, government bond, credit and equity markets. Building upon the law of one price, we developed two...

The paper takes a closer look at the institutional set-up of financial markets in the United States of America and investigates whether the US can serve as a model for the EU. The overall conclusion is that the US institutional set-up as a whole does not seem to be a suitable benchmark for the...

In January 2007 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published, on an ad hoc basis, a series of financial soundness indicators (FSIs) based on a common methodology (the IMF compilation Guide) for 62 countries, including all 27 European Union countries. The European Central Bank (ECB), jointly...

Shadow banking, as one of the main sources of financial stability concerns, is the subject of much international debate. In broad terms, shadow banking refers to activities related to credit intermediation and liquidity and maturity transformation that take place outside the regulated banking...

2004 wird die Europäische Union voraussichtlich zehn neue Mitglieder aufweisen. Acht von ihnen sind Transformationsökonomien mit den damit verbundenen besonderen Merkmalen ihrer Finanzsektoren. Deren Transformation hat in den vergangenen Jahren große Fortschritte gemacht, ist jedoch...

Die unklare Formulierung des Artikels 52 des Europäischen Patentübereinkommens hat zu einer Unsicherheit bezüglich der Patentierbarkeit von Erfindungen mit finanzwirtschaftlichem Hintergrund am Europäischen Patentamt (EPA) geführt. Der vorliegende Artikel gibt einen Überblick über die...