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Graham Bishop is renowned for his vision and the courage to propose radical ideas, yet ground them in a mastery of the technical details of the financial system. He has been referred to as a one-man think tank.
European Commission: His influence at the meeting point of politics, economics and finance has been recognised on many occasions - most recently when the European Commission asked him to study the attitudes of investors toward the euro area sovereign bond markets. In particular, he explored attitudes towards the potential for a “common euro area safe asset”: what characteristics should it possess and whether it would ameliorate any of the concerns expressed about the features of existing bond markets.
Graham's many pro bono activities illuminate and reinforce his Consultancy Services. His deep knowledge of Europe’s financial system is integrated with his understanding of EU economic and budgetary policy-making – whilst set within the necessary framework of democratic accountability.
He was a member of the Commission's Consultative Group on the Impact of the Euro on Capital Markets; of the Commission's Strategy Group on Financial Services; and of the Committee of Independent Experts on the preparation of the changeover to the single currency (1994/5).
This Website, as well as Graham's Consultancy Service, is designed to bring clients the direct insights that flow from Graham’s position as a leading technical analyst of economic and structural developments in the financial markets of Europe.
"Institutional investors and major financial firms now face a huge commercial challenge in Europe. The vision of political integration has entered a critical phase: ...."
"..analysis of obscure bureaucratic manoeuvrings towards fiscal union, labour mobility and tax co-ordination etc. is quite outside the comfort zone of many..."
"It is now entirely foreseeable that governments may make potentially far-reaching changes that would impact the valuation of European financial assets, as well as reforming the nature of the regulations governing key parts of the financial sector’s business".
"..So the consequences of this crisis will be historic – and will reverberate around global financial markets. The stakes for participants in European financial markets could not be higher.."
Consultancy services can take many forms: face-to-face meetings, telephone discussions, written comments, speeches, special articles, customised research projects, etc.
Joachim Nagel is president of the Deutsche Bundesbank. Nicolas Véron is a senior fellow at The Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC, and at Bruegel in Brussels.
In the early hours of June 29, 2012, boldness and clarity came together. After a long night of negotiations, European leaders laid the foundations for the banking union project. They found strong and clear words on its purpose, stating “it is imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns.”
The decision was taken in the aftermath of a twin crisis that had shaken the euro area — a sovereign debt crisis coupled with a banking crisis. The close links between sovereigns and banks had created a “doom loop”: sovereigns bailed out teetering banks, straining public finances, and rising sovereign bond yields put pressure on banks’ home-biased sovereign exposures.
Such loops emerged as a particular vulnerability of the euro area, with its unique institutional setup as a monetary union of otherwise sovereign states, increasing the pressure on the eurosystem to save the day. The banking union was conceived as the sword that would sever the doom loop.
Today’s banking union is primarily the result of intensive legislative efforts between 2012 and 2014. They established a complete framework for supervising European banks, and an incomplete one for dealing with banking crises. This helped to mitigate the vicious circle, in particular by creating a Single Supervisory Mechanism under the European Central Bank and national supervisory authorities. That has proven its effectiveness, but the vicious circle has not yet been broken.
Before the lessons of 2012 are forgotten, the new EU term offers an opportunity to finish the task and break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns for good. Action must go both ways. First, block the direct contagion channel from banks to sovereigns. Taxpayers should not have to suffer when banks run into problems. Second, close the contagion channel from sovereigns to banks. A sovereign credit event cannot and should not be ruled out in a monetary union with sovereign fiscal policies at the national level. At the same time, it must not be permitted to drag down banks with it and thus further jeopardize financial stability.
The first aim calls for strengthening the crisis intervention framework. Valuable progress has been made with the establishment of the Single Resolution Board and the Single Resolution Fund.
The latter has reached its target level, currently at €78 billion, after a decade of build-up. However, a more streamlined and predictable framework is needed. Specifically, resolution should be a credible and feasible option to manage more, if not all, failing banks under EU law, instead of the current confusing mix of European and national procedures that leaves too much scope for national state aid and moral hazard....
more at POLITICO
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