Written for undergraduate and graduate students of finance, economics and business, the fourth edition of Financial Markets and Institutions provides a fresh analysis of the European financial system. Combining theory, data and policy, this successful textbook examines and explains financial...

We examine the effect of low interest rates on bond portfolio and market allocations by all institutional investors and households across all bond types in Germany at the security-level for 2005-2016. We find that―in contrast to banks―non-banks tilt bond portfolios significantly towards...

The European Union's Capital Markets Union (CMU) is a broadly-based regulatory reforms framework that emerged from the Global Financial Crisis, the Great Recession and the Eurozone Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2008-2014. Launched in 2015, the CMU deployment date is set for 2019, although some...

This paper summarises the outcome of an analysis of stablecoins undertaken by the ECB Crypto-Assets Task Force. At the time of writing, the stablecoin debate lacks a common taxonomy and unambiguous terminology. This paper applies a definition that distinguishes stablecoins from existing forms of...

Our aim is to provide evidence regarding managing costs differences comparing Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) funds with traditional ones, if any, and if these are influenced by the ethical rating of the fund. The methodology is based on a multiple linear regression model in a matched-pair...

The paper analyses how banks manage their capital position when they securitise, by focusing on the issuances sponsored by European banks before and after the financial crisis. Stylised facts suggest that, at the time of the crisis, European banks continued to issue structured products, but by...

EU policy-makers have focused on the creation of a “Capital Market Union” to advance the economic vitality of the EU in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-09 and the Eurozone crisis of 2011-13. The hope is that EU-wide capital markets will help remedy the limitations in the...

The aim of the present University notes is to provide a brief but comprehensive overview of the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council “on Markets in Crypto-Assets (…)” (MiCAR), which was submitted on 24 September 2020. It is not...

The present article contains a brief but comprehensive overview of the development of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project in the EU to further deepen EU capital markets’ integration. After the Introduction, it first discusses the Commission’s 2015 CMU Action Plan and its follow-up,...

Owing to the disruptive events in the shadow banking system during the global financial crisis, policymakers and regulators have sought to strengthen the monitoring framework and to identify any remaining regulatory gaps. In accordance with its mandate, the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB)...