Capital markets in Europe are in a process of deep restructuring. At last, they are becoming more integrated and truly European. At the same time however, technological advancements are altering the interaction between markets and investors, posing serious challenges to the traditional capital market structure. This CEPS Task Force report reviews the recent developments in the European securities market industry, assessing its regulation and supervision while proposing a series of policy recommendations.

ECRI will host a conference to assess how the current policy initiatives and regulatory developments meet the challenges of the new market environment. The discussions will be based on the launch of the ECRI Research Report on household debt during the crisis, which analyses the causes and the consequences of the recent development in household debt. The event will focus on the challenges of the post-crisis environment and will address what future legislative initiatives are necessary to promote sustainable household debt.

The financial and economic crises have brought taxation to the forefront of the policy debate in the EU. Levying a targeted tax on the financial sector is one of the most frequently discussed measures to reduce governments’ budgetary pressures. Among policy-makers in the EU, there is a broad consensus that financial institutions should contribute to the cost of fixing the crisis, but member states have not managed to reach a common agreement. In anticipation, some EU member states have already introduced a domestic financial sector tax.

Securitisation can help increase access to finance by converting illiquid pools of assets into securities that can be purchased by investors in capital markets. It can play an important role in the long-term financing of industrial and infrastructure projects, as well as SMEs. It is however also prone to a number of risks driven by volume-based incentives. The excesses of the sub-prime crisis led to the dry-up of most securitisation markets in Europe. This seminar will provide an opportunity to discuss the role and future of securitisation in European capital markets.

Launch of the study Marccus Partners and CEPS-ECMI: 'A Legal and Economic Assessment of European Takeover Regulation' (available here for download from 11 December 16:00 CET) 

From the back cover of the book:

The financial and sovereign crises have hit the foundation of the banking sectors around the globe. This requires policy makers to look beyond the current available regulatory and supervisory toolbox at the structure of the banking sectors. Commissioner Michel Barnier announced therefore in November 2011 to set up a high-level expert group. Led by Governor Erkki Liikanen of the Bank of Finland the experts examined whether the present regulatory reforms in the EU are sufficient or additional structural reforms are required.

Fifth in a series of high-level roundtables organised by the CEPS Financial Institutions Unit on the future of financial regulation in Europe. These will gather researchers, industry experts, and key policy-makers to debate the future design and potential consequences of forthcoming financial regulatory frameworks.

See the detailed programme here.
 

Ales studied European integration and economics at Sciences Po Paris and London School of Economics. He started to work in the area of financial markets at the Party of European Socialists, where he was in charge of the legislation on Credit Rating Agencies. He was trained in the Financial Services Unit of the Council of the European Union.

Third in a series of high-level roundtables organised by the CEPS Financial Institutions Unit on the future of financial regulation in Europe. These will gather researchers, industry experts, and key policy-makers to debate the future design and potential consequences of forthcoming financial regulatory frameworks.

The recent Greek debt restructuring raised questions around the complexity of derivative contracts and the potential implications of a credit event. This seminar will discuss the process through which the ISDA Credit Derivatives Determinations Committee decides whether a credit event has occurred, in specific factual circumstances, and the detail of standardised CDS contracts. The event will assess potential conflicts of interest in this process and how they are managed, and will also examine political pressures therein, and what these mean for market efficiency and integrity.