scholarly journals Challenges for the European Capital Markets Union: reviving financial integration and safeguarding financial stability

2017 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Demary
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Véron ◽  
Guntram B. Wolff

Abstract Capital Markets Union (CMU) is a welcome economic policy initiative. If well designed and implemented, it can improve access to funding, the allocation of capital, prospects for savers, and financial stability in the European Union. But since financial ecosystems only change slowly, CMU cannot be a short-term cyclical instrument to substitute for subdued bank lending. Shifting financial intermediation towards capital markets will require persistent action on multiple fronts. The policy agenda should aim to enhance both capital markets development and cross-border financial integration, two distinct but mutually reinforcing aims; to increase the transparency, reliability, and comparability of information, a key enabler of trust in financial markets which always involve information asymmetries; and to adequately address financial stability concerns. We propose a staged process to sustain the momentum and make Europe’s CMU fully worthy of its 'union' label.


Author(s):  
Zsolt Darvas ◽  
Dirk Schoenmaker

This chapter investigates the role of institutional investment in developing capital markets. It also examines the role of institutional investment in risk sharing. The contribution of institutional investment to risk sharing depends on: the size of institutional investment; the degree of geographical diversification of portfolios, and the composition of assets (equities vs bonds) held. The chapter investigates these three aspects of financial integration in the EU's Capital Markets Union and assesses the prospects for increased risk sharing in the EU. The main hypothesis is that the larger the assets managed by institutional investors, the smaller the home bias and thereby the larger the scope for risk sharing, ceteris paribus. The analysis will focus on portfolio equity home bias.


Author(s):  
Frank GB Graaf

This chapter looks at recent initiatives in the context of the European Commission's flagship plans for a Capital Markets Union (CMU) designed to encourage a pan-European private placement market. In reality, private placements are mainly available as a funding tool for medium-sized and larger companies. Nonetheless, private placements are regarded by CMU's policymakers as an alternative source of long-term funding, which is simple enough for smaller corporates and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), and with benefits that they might find attractive. The Commission's initial intention in the design of a CMU was to enable a greater use by SMEs of private placements.


Author(s):  
Merritt B Fox

This chapter begins by considering the especially severe information-asymmetry problem that plagues primary offerings of truly new securities. It then examines market-based solutions for these problems, the shortcomings of exclusive reliance on such solutions, and the rationale for having a government-designed affirmative-disclosure regime, whereby an issuer making an offering is required to answer certain questions. It also addresses the question of whether this regime should be imposed on all issuers making such offerings or only those that volunteer to be subjected to it. The remainder of the chapter considers the rationale for mandating the imposition of liability on issuers, issuer directors and officers, underwriters, dealers, and experts such as accountants or rating agencies when there have been material misstatements or material omissions of what was required to be disclosed. The final section briefly applies the preceding discussion to the efforts, as part of the Capital Markets Union, to increase the opportunities for European SMEs raise funds through public offerings.


Author(s):  
Emilios Avgouleas

This chapter offers a critical overview of the issues that the European Union 27 (EU-27) will face in the context of making proper use of financial innovation to further market integration and risk sharing in the internal financial market, both key objectives of the drive to build a Capital Markets Union. Among these is the paradigm shift signalled by a technological revolution in the realm of finance and payments, which combines advanced data analytics and cloud computing (so-called FinTech). The chapter begins with a critical analysis of financial innovation and FinTech. It then traces the EU market integration efforts and explains the restrictive path of recent developments. It considers FinTech's potential to aid EU market integration and debates the merits of regulation dealing with financial innovation in the context of building a capital markets union in EU-27.


Author(s):  
Danny Busch ◽  
Emilios Avgouleas ◽  
Guido Ferrarini

In line with the European Commission's wish to create fully integrated European capital markets, its Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan is intended to make it easier for providers and receivers of funds to come into contact with one another within Europe, especially across borders. This book discusses various aspects of CMU from a legal and/or economic perspective. The chapters are grouped in a thematic way, covering the following areas: (i) general aspects, (ii) Brexit, (iii) financing innovation, (iv) raising capital on the capital markets, (v) fostering retail and institutional investment, (vi) leveraging banking capacity to support the wider economy, and (vii) facilitating cross-border investing. This chapter outlines some general aspects of CMU that are not explicitly covered by the other chapters in this book: (1) the CMU objectives, (2) the EBU–CMU relationship, (3) regulatory burden, and (4) Better Regulation and the Call for Evidence.


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