Europe's banking system has been in a state of systemic fragility since 2007-08. The current phase is marked by a sequence of interactions between sovereign problems and banking problems, resulting in gradual contagion to more countriesand more asset classes. The banking and sovereign crises are...

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,...

Iceland, Ireland and Latvia experienced similar developments before the crisis. However, the crisis hit Latvia harder than any other country, and Ireland also suffered heavily, while Iceland exited the crisis with the smallest fall in employment, despite the greatest shock to the financial...

At the extraordinary EU Council of 21 July European leaders have to accomplish a triple-mission. First, they should pave the way to restoring solvency in Greece by initiating debt reduction. Softening the Greek debt burden implies i) reducing the interest rate on official lending, ii) requesting...

Nicolas Véron argues rating agencies have failed the marketplace in the run-up to the crisis, as their risk assessment processes have been found wanting on a number of counts. It is not clear that conflicts of interests have been the root cause of this serious failure, even if such conflicts...

The financial crisis exposed Europe's inadequacy in developing an effective banking resolution framework that could bring together national authorities and set guidelines for their coordination. The European Commission, through its assessment of state aid cases, managed to avoid single market...

Die Krise auf den Finanzmärkten ergreift immer mehr Finanzmarktinstitutionen. Zudem verstärkt die sich rasant ausbreitende Weltwirtschaftskrise die Probleme. Die kurzfristigen Maßnahmen zur Rettung der Banken gehen - abgesehen von Nachbesserungsbedarf in einzelnen Punkten - grundsätzlich in...

As the basis for a European regime for resolving failing and failed banks, the European Commission has proposed the Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive (BRRD) and a regulation establishing a European Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and a Single Bank Resolution Fund (SBRF). There is a debate...