Graham Bishop.com

Graham Bishop's Blog: Commission President Debate on Europe-wide TV on 15 May 2014
Watching the great debate last night, the central question in my mind last night was: are we looking at the next President of the European Commission? Clearly, there were only three real candidates in the frame: Juncker, Schulz and Verhofstadt. View Article

Graham Bishop's Blog: The euro crisis - The European Commission’s first attempt at counting of the cost
The Commission has published an overall assessment of the impact of the massive change in financial markets since the euro crisis struck in 2007/8. But it is close to impossible to provide a definitive answer as many of the 40 regulatory changes have only just been enacted. View Article

Brussels for Breakfast (99) with Graham Bishop and Hans Hack (FTI Consulting)
The May B4B meeting was again dominated by discussion of the imminent European elections and future priorities of the next Financial Services Commissioner. In banking, the AQR and stress test remain on track. View Article

Run-up to the European elections
The latest polls, less than a week before the election process starts, predict the EPP to win overall, and for the established parties to gain over 2/3 of the seats. View Article

Heads of State or Government to discuss election outcomes
Hermann Van Rompuy invited the Heads of State or Government to an informal dinner in Brussels on 27 May 2014. A few days after the European elections, he suggests discussing the outcome of the elections and to look at what can be learned from the results. View Article

FN: EU elections could help Left to renew push on regulation
This week’s EP elections may trigger a tougher environment for financial regulation in Europe. Although anti-EU parties are expected to fare well, polls predict stronger gains for parties in the European United Left/Nordic Green Left grouping, which has taken a hard line on banking and markets. View Article

Bruegel/Peterson Institute/Véron: How unequal is the EP's representation?
Nicolas Véron writes on the skewed nature of the European Parliament's representation of voters, arguing that compared with other lower houses of large or medium-sized democratic polities, the European Parliament is at the low end in terms of electoral equality. View Article

Jean-Dominique Giuliani: European elections - Not such a great campaign
The rise of extremes both on the left and right is the novelty in the present campaign in view of the upcoming European elections on 22-25 May. Using exaggerated, basic, and often outdated arguments the dissenters have found a federating scapegoat: the European Union. View Article

Member States sign agreement on bank resolution fund
Representatives of 26 EU Member States today signed an intergovernmental agreement on the transfer and mutualisation of contributions to a single resolution fund that will be established as part of Europe's Banking Union. View Article

ECB/Cœuré: Completing the single market in capital
Benoît Cœuré argued that de-fragmentation must have an aim, and that aim goes deeper than price convergence. True financial integration implies a single market in capital, where there is efficient allocation and effective diversification. View Article

ECON/Bowles MEP: Can we kick start growth?
Sharon Bowles MEP, chair of the outgoing ECON committee, spoke on regulation, its consequences on growth and how to fill or address the funding gap. View Article

Bundesbank/Dombret: Regulation standing still means falling behind
Dr Andreas Dombret, Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank, argued that regulation is aiming at a target which is forever receding and therefore progress had to be achieved quickly both from the point of view of banking supervision or in terms of financial stability. View Article

FT: European securitisation - Five steps to recovery
Issuance of asset-backed securities has been shrinking in Europe. Simon Lewis, chief executive of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), comments on the state of the market for European securitisation. View Article

BaFin/König: Consumer protection and regulation
BaFin President Dr Elke König opened the supervisory authority’s annual press conference with a speech in which she explained that, for BaFin, the ideal consumers are responsible consumers who confidently and independently take their own investment decisions. View Article

FCA/Lawton: The new market infrastructure
David Lawton, Director of Markets at FCA, delivered the keynote speech at the Economist Bellwether Conference. Firms need to adapt their business models to meet regulators’ and policy-makers’ expectations and put customers at the heart of their businesses, he said. View Article

BCBS/Ingves: Global liquidity regulation, supervision and risk management
Mr Stefan Ingves, Chairman of the BCBS, concluded that regulators don't run banks, and ultimately it is for the banking industry to learn from recent experience to ensure it betters measures, manages and prices liquidity risk in the future. View Article

Barnier: State of the (Banking) Union
Michel Barnier took stock of developments in the Banking Union and more broadly in financial regulation reform as an illustration of the EU’s added value to economic recovery. View Article

Bundesbank/Weidmann: Euro area crisis is a crisis of confidence
Jens Weidmann argued that the euro depends not just on public confidence in the Eurosystem's stability orientation but also on conditions which the Eurosystem cannot itself create: healthy government finances, competitive Member States and a well-functioning regulatory framework. View Article

Reuters: Firms may leave risk unprotected due to 'onerous' derivatives rules
Companies will stop managing certain risks and leave themselves unprotected if derivatives trading rules become too onerous and expensive, said Colin Tyler, head of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT). View Article

Statement by the EC, ECB and IMF on the fourth review mission to Cyprus
Staff teams from the European Commission, ECB, and IMF found that Cyprus' programme which seeks to ensure the recovery of economic activity, remains on track and fiscal targets for the first quarter of 2014 were met with a considerable margin. View Article

Portugal successfully exits EFSF programme
The EFSF financial assistance programme for Portugal officially ended with a successful programme exit. This follows the disbursement of €26 billion by the EFSF over three years to support macroeconomic adjustment in Portugal. View Article

The road to growth: A medium-term strategy for Portugal
The Portuguese government has published a report in which it presents its ongoing reform programme, new initiatives towards sustainable growth and commitments towards sound public accounts. View Article

BNE/McIntosh: Voice of business calls for UK to stay in Europe
Alisdair McIntosh is director of Business for New Europe which is making the case for the UK to remain in a reformed EU. View Article

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Integrating Europe

22 May 2014

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