This article estimates price-cost margins for the Portuguese markets in a context of imperfect competition in the labour market. The database used includes virtually the universe of Portuguese firms for the period 2005-2009. The results strongly reject the hypothesis of perfect competition in...

There is a long-standing debate about the special nature of banks. Based on a unique dataset of legislative changes in industrial countries, we identify events that strengthen competition policy, analyze their impact on banks and non-financial firms and explain the reactions observed with...

The management report is an integral part of the ECB's Annual Accounts and is designed to provide readers with contextual information related to the financial statements. Given that the ECB's activities and operations are undertaken in support of its policy objectives, its financial position and...

TARGET2-Securities (T2S) is a pan-European platform for securities settlement, developed and operated by the Eurosystem. By September 2017, 22 central securities depositories (CSDs), covering 20 European markets had joined the platform, and now settle euro securities transactions in T2S. The...

The ECB's annual report on financial integration in Europe contributes to the advancement of the European financial integration process by analysing its development and the related policies. For the ECB, the market for a given set of financial instruments and/or services is fully integrated if...

On 21 September 2017 the European Central Bank (ECB) announced that it would develop a euro unsecured overnight interest rate based on data already available to the Eurosystem. The interest rate, which would be produced before 2020, would complement existing benchmark rates produced by the...

This manual aims to further clarify and illustrate the requirements laid down in the Regulation and the Guideline; it contains no additional requirements and has no legally binding status. A clear and consistent understanding of the statistical requirements contained in the Regulation and the...

An important lesson learnt from the financial crisis is that incurred loss models used in bank accounting standards often resulted in provisions that were considered "too little, too late". This led the G20 leaders to recommend that accounting standard-setters consider modifying provisioning...