This papers analyzes the effect of the ECB’s Corporate Sector Purchase Programme (CSPP) and the recent Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) on the yields of eligible green bonds, a new but rapidly growing segment of the corporate bond market. We exploit these policy changes using a...

Using large panel data of public and private firms, this paper dissects the aggregate growth of bond financing in the Euro Area. It considerably broadened firms' access to funding, but can also lead to new risks. The composition of bond issuers has shifted, with the entry of many smaller and...

The rise of bond financing in EuropeUsing large panel data of public and private firms, this paper dissects the growth of bond financing in the Euro Area through the lens of the cross-section of issuers. In recent years, the composition of bond issuers has shifted, with the entry of many smaller...

Covenants are a type of contractual protection for creditors in debt financing. They are used in bond contracts to control the issuer's management activity and to attenuate conflicting goals existing between shareholders and bondholders. The article provides an overview of covenants and the way...

This report explores the interactions between nature-related financial risks and monetary policy, focusing on the ECB’s corporate asset purchase operations (also described as corporate ‘quantitative easing’ or ‘QE’). Using the ENCORE framework, we find that the sectors the ECB is...

Empirical studies carried out at the European Union level show that banks and institutional investors (mainly pension funds and insurers) increasingly make their investment decisions taking into account the positive social and environmental impact of the organisations, businesses, and projects...

The growth of the European financial markets, together with the new, stricter regulations on the U.S. financial markets, has spurred a debate over the competitiveness of the U.S. financial markets. In this paper, we contribute to this debate by investigating the relative competitiveness of the...