Cuardaigh

Insolvency laws are the rules governing the legal proceedings applicable to companies unable to repay debts as they fall due. The convergence of non-financial companies' insolvency laws across the Member States is high on the EU's policy agenda: the two reports requested from former Italian prime ministers Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi both emphasised the importance of the convergence of insolvency laws for the defragmentation and proper functioning of EU capital markets. This would help unlock capital ...

This briefing paper is prepared in view of a regular public hearing with the Chair of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), Christine Lagarde, which will take place on 4 December 2024. We cover the ESRB’s report on bank deposits following US banking turmoil in March 2023, recent conclusions of the ESRB’s General Board meeting, the risk outlook for the financial sector and Eurosystem’s response to the European Commisison’s consultation on macroprudential policies for non-banks. Annexes include ...

The Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) convene finance ministers and central bank governors to participate in the highest-level decision-making bodies of the two institutions, as well as in various committees and groups that drive the agenda on issues related to the international monetary system and development policy. The 2024 Annual Meetings took place in Washington, D.C. from 21 to 26 October 2024. This paper summarises the main developments and ...

This briefing has been prepared for the public hearing with the Chair of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), Claudia Buch, scheduled for 18 November 2024 in the ECON Committee. The previous hearing took place on 2 September 2024.

This study provides an overview of the impact of commodity traders on agricultural markets. It examines the ramifications of financialisation, explores prevailing trends, and confronts the challenges that characterise the industry's landscape. Moreover, after analysing the regulatory state of play at the international level, it provides suggestions towards bolstering the sector's accountability and transparency, essential for fostering trust and sustainability. By scrutinising these aspects, this ...

This is the third edition of a study on the European Commission's follow-up to European Parliament requests as expressed in non-legislative resolutions based either on ordinary own-initiative reports (INIs) or on Article 225 TFEU legislative-initiative reports (INLs). Analysing the Commission's replies in formal follow-up documents (for INIs) and in letters in reply to legislative-initiative reports (INL), this joint DG PRES and DG EPRS project seeks to support the European Parliament's scrutiny ...

The free flow of capital within the EU is one of the single market's four fundamental freedoms. However, despite the removal of legal barriers to capital flow, significant technical barriers persist and the EU's capital markets remain fragmented. Defragmentation of the capital markets – also referred to as capital markets union (CMU) or savings and investment union – is essential for the conduct of EU monetary policy, a level playing field among EU companies, and optimal allocation of capital within ...

Multilateral development banks (MDBs) are supranational financial institutions that support developing countries to help them achieve various goals. While the support is primarily financial, many MDBs have accumulated a good deal of experience, which allows them to propose non financial services too, such as policy advice, capacity building, technical assistance and training. MDBs are a key element in the multilateral development system. This wide-ranging remit, as well as the fact that MDBs are ...

Maria Luís Albuquerque was independent non-executive director and a member of the Audit, Risk, and Nomination committees at Morgan Stanley, and a member of the Operating Team at Horizon Equity Partners. She was a member of the ISCTE University Institute of Lisbon's Executive Education Advisory Board. Prior to these roles, she was an independent non-executive director (chair of the Sustainability Committee) at the asset management firm Arrow Global Group (2016-2021), and a member of the High-level ...

The banking union project has achieved European-level policy integration of microprudential supervision but not of crisis intervention. This largely explains the disappointing progress in the cross-border integration of the banking sector, which we document using data on banks’ assets and also specifically on their sovereign exposures. In a capital markets union, there is no equivalent of the banking crisis intervention framework and related public financial safety net, and therefore supervisory ...