In the aftermath of the euro-area sovereign debt crisis, several commentators have questioned the favourable treatment of banks' sovereign exposures allowed by the current prudential rules. In this paper, we assess the overall desirability of reforming these rules. We conclude that the...

Technological progress in finance has been accelerating over the last decade. In the future, it is likely that financial intermediaries may undergo significant challenges as regards their traditional business model and functions, since an increasing share of payments may be settled without...