European Union (EU)
Weidmann encourages UK to stay in EU
Deutsche Bundesbank president says the UK and continental Europe are 'more than the sum of their parts' and have both benefited from the European Union
Gualtieri elected chair of ECB watchdog committee
New Econ Committee members approve Italian socialist as chair; Gualtieri faces an early test of his composure as German politician Bernd Lucke is rejected as vice-chair
Italian socialist tipped to lead ECB-watching Econ Committee
Roberto Gualtieri likely to be elected as chair of the Econ Committee next week in the European Parliament, making him the chief point of contact with the European Central Bank
Europe’s ‘bloated’ banking system could be harming growth, says ESRB committee
Report by advisers to European Systemic Risk Board says the banking system is ‘overweight’ and prescribes a number of remedies, including securitisation of SME loans
EU sovereign debt managers fall in line with two-day settlement rule
EU member states' treasuries will settle over-the-counter sovereign bond transactions in a maximum of two days from October this year
Yves Mersch says EU treaty change could entrench monetary and banking union
Changing the EU treaties could, according to Mersch, help strengthen the institutional framework underpinning the Economic and Monetary Union
Regulators reveal details of EU and UK stress tests
European Banking Authority and Bank of England set out the scenarios they will use in their respective stress tests later this year; ECB sets deadline for meeting capital shortfalls
EU members are ‘growing apart' not growing together, paper finds
Researchers examine EU member states' ‘dynamic convergence' and find seven separate groups of countries that are not converging with one another
Serbia completes ECB's 'most ambitious programme to date'
Three-year programme has prepared the National Bank of Serbia to take a lead role in negotiating the country's entry into the EU and the central bank's entry into the ESCB
Greek paper finds Turkish economy bucks EU trends
Academics use a GVAR model to examine interlinkages between southeast European economies and how they react to eurozone macroeconomic policy; Turkey bucks trends followed by EU members
Buba's Dombret backs EU recovery and resolution plans
Bundesbank board member says new European directive on resolving big banks will be crucial in solving ‘too-big-to-fail', though he has reservations about public participation in the resolution fund
ECB paper finds capital controls can increase stock price volatility
Research paper finds that a tax on capital inflows can stabilise currency markets, but amplify shocks in single-country stock markets
Croatia among EU members whose spreads are most affected by fundamentals
While spillovers from external shocks remain the dominant factor in spreads EU-wide, Croatia is among those where fundamentals are playing an increasingly influential role
Bundesbank paper says EU convergence is a myth
Researchers identify a split between old and new, western and eastern member states; incomes are converging between smaller groups of countries rather than the EU collective
A status report on Dodd-Frank and the Volcker rule
As the US and Europe move closer to co-operating on derivatives legislation, Vembar Ranganathan looks at the status of Dodd-Frank implementation aimed at curbing excesses in the derivatives market
Croatian membership boosts ECB capital
Croatia’s central bank has joined the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), with governor Boris Vujčić taking his place on the ECB’s general council
EU finance ministers strike deal on bail-ins
Rules seek to impose losses from bank failures on creditors; national authorities told to create resolution funds to absorb losses in ‘exceptional cases’
ESRB issues macro-pru advice, as IMF warns over possible conflicts
European Systemic Risk Board recommends five ‘intermediate objectives' for macro-prudential policies in the EU; IMF paper warns of potential conflicts with micro-prudential measures
ESM direct recapitalisation gets go-ahead
Eurogroup reaches agreement over main features of direct bank recapitalisation under the European Stability Mechanism, but commentators warn the deal could still falter; CRD IV also adopted
Lagarde says QE risks are real, but bubbles are not forming yet
IMF managing director says accommodative policy should remain in place in advanced economies, but clear articulation of an exit strategy will be needed to avoid a repeat of 1994's ‘brutal exit'
Financial exclusion in Europe driven by move away from cash, study finds
New report from Brussels-based pressure group finds financial exclusion is a growing phenomenon as cash falls out of favour for everyday transactions
European Parliament poised to approve next step in banking union
European political groupings have reached agreement on a text for the recovery and resolution piece of Europe's planned banking union
Constâncio identifies benefits of banking union to non-members
ECB vice-president says European countries outside the new SSM will benefit from an enhanced banking union; stresses value of increased financing to real economies
Booknotes: Making the European Monetary Union
A history of the Committee of Central Bank Governors for the period 1964 to 1993, for which the author, Harold James, had access to the archives