The crisis has underlined the strong interdependence between the euro-area banking and sovereign crises. To understand the role domestic banks have played in holding sovereign debt, a breakdown of government debt by holding sectors is required. The data shows that at the start of the crisis,...

This paper presents three simple policies for overcoming the crisis that can be implemented immediately and require none of the moves such as national guarantees or fiscal transfers to which many Europeans are opposed, nor moves towards federation that entail Treaty changes, which electorates...

The financial crisis has exposed the need to devise stronger and broader international and regional safety nets in order to deal with economic and financial shocks and allow for countries to adjust. The euro area has developed several such mechanisms over the last couple of years through a...

This lecture discusses the 2010 crisis of the European Monetary Union and draws some lessons for reform. Crisis resolution has been difficult because the sovereign debt crisis of countries like Greece and Portugal has come together with real-estate and banking crises in countries like Ireland...

The paper analyzes why households in transition economies prefer to hold sizeable shares of their assets in cash at home rather than in banks. Using survey data from ten Central, Eastern and Southeastern European countries, I document the relevance of this behavior and show that cash preferences...

While net settlement systems make more efficient use of liquidity than gross settlement systems, they are known to generate systemic risk. What does that tendency imply for the stability of the payments [or financial] system when the two settlement systems coexist? Do liquidity shortages induce...

The potential mutation of the Sub-Prime banking crisis into a sovereign debt one in Euro area countries is investigated. After reviewing the criteria used to measure the debt vulnerability, the balance sheet approach (BSA) is presented in order to illustrate the potential connections between...

Mit den Beschlüssen zur europäischen Regulierung im Dezember 2012 hat die EU einen Schritt in Richtung Bankenunion gemacht. Nach Ansicht von Sabine Lautenschläger, Deutsche Bundesbank, braucht Europa Zeit, um eine europäische Bankenaufsicht und einen europäischen Abwicklungsmechanismus auf...

Der Deutsche Bundestag hat am 24. September 2015 das Abwicklungsmechanismusgesetz zur Umsetzung des Einheitlichen Abwicklungsmechanismus für Banken verabschiedet. Damit soll im Euroraum ein verbessertes rechtliches Instrumentarium bereitstehen, um Banken in einer möglichen Schieflage sanieren...