The 2007-2009 global financial crisis and the consecutive 2010-2012 euro area sovereign debt crisis exposed the banking sector to heavy losses and resulted in higher capital requirements. Not all banks managed to have sufficient buffers to absorb the losses and fulfil the higher capital requirements. The EU Member States intervened, providing capital, asset reliefs, guarantees and other liquidity measures to ailing banks to safeguard financial stability and avoid the consequences of the breakup of the lending chain. The more prudent behaviour and restructuring plans that followed impacted the real economy. The case-specific restructuring plans could, for instance, include provisions to sell or cease parts of the activities, to merge with other healthier banks but also to apply lending targets and bans on acquisitions, price-leadership, coupon-, dividend- and bonus payments and to abide by other types of restrictions such as advertising.
The roundtable discusses the consequences of State aid on restructuring, financial stability and bank lending to the real economy and whether there is a need to change policies based on the study by the CEPS Financial Institutions Unit on the issue.
Participation fee:
CEPS Corporate members: 400€
Institutional members: 400€
Non-Members: 800€
Registration is free of charge for EU officials & full-time academics (subject to seats availability).
For any queries contact isabelle.tenaerts@ceps.eu or +32 2 229 39 56