On 5-6 September 2012 SUERF held its 30th Colloquium "States, Banks, and the Financing of the Economy" at the University of Zürich, Switzerland. The papers included in this SUERF Study are based on contributions to the Colloquium. All the chapters in this publication discuss from different...

On 23rd February 2017, SUERF and EY organized a conference on "Brexit and the Implications for Financial Services" at EY's offices, Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London. While the outcome of the Brexit negotiations remains highly uncertain, the conference discussed the burning questions for...

Virtual currencies are a contemporary form of private money. Thanks to their technological properties, their global transaction networks are relatively safe, transparent, and fast. This gives them good prospects for further development. However, they remain unlikely to challenge the dominant...

In this paper, calendar seasonality patterns are examined from day-of-the-week effect across weekly patterns, monthly analysis and whole-year seasonal strategies such as Sell in May and Halloween effect. The analysis is done across six indices, DAX, MDAX, SDAX, Eurostoxx 50, Stoxx Europe Mid 200...

We investigate credit default swap (CDS) and stock price reactions to a variety of credit events, including news of economic distress, financial distress, M&A, SEC probe or accounting irregularities, and leverage buyout (LBO). The CDS spread shows a large spike of 37% to 96% depending on the...

We use event study methods to compare the market reaction to U.S. and EU-wide stress tests performed from 2009 to 2013. Typically, stress tests have a positive impact on stressed banks' returns. While the 2009 U.S. stress test had a large positive outcome, the impact of subsequent U.S. exercises...

The paper provides an overview of the hedge fund industry, mainly from a financial stability and European angle. It is primarily based on an extensive analysis of information from the TASS database. On the positive side of the financial stability assessment, hedge funds have a role as providers...

The single most important policy-induced innovation in the international financial system since the collapse of the Bretton-Woods regime is the institution of the European Monetary Union. This paper provides an account of how the process of financial integration has promoted financial...