The recent banking turmoil was a stark reminder of the fragility associated with banks' funding structures, especially when they rely on an insufficiently diverse uninsured deposit base. Concerns about unrealised losses, triggered by the rapid shift in monetary policy, played a clear role in the...

The great financial crisis and the euro area crisis led to a substantial reform of financial safety nets across Europe and - critically - to the introduction of supranational elements. Specifically, a supranational supervisor was established for the euro area, with discrete arrangements for...

The contribution of financial and non-financial risks to the overall level of risk in the system depends on the current state of the EU banking system (which, in the aggregate and compared with banking sectors in other major advanced economies, cannot be characterised as strong) and how...

This report presents a long-term view of the evolution of financing of EU non-financial corporations (NFCs) in recent decades. It finds a decline in NFC leverage since at least 2008, and across countries, size categories and industries. It also documents a growing role of non-bank financial...

The European Union's banking union project started in mid-2012 in response to the euro-area crisis, with the goal of breaking the bank-sovereign vicious circle. The objective was also to restore private liability in banking and to move towards an integrated supranational market for banking...

We analyze the credit supply and real sector effects of bank bail-ins by exploiting the unexpected failure of a major Portuguese bank and subsequent resolution. Using a matched firm-bank dataset on credit exposures and interest rates, we show that while banks more exposed to the bail-in...

Household credit, especially for mortgages, has doubled over the past years in the new European Union member countries, raising concerns about the economic and social consequences of household indebtedness in the event of a macroeconomic crisis. Using household survey data for 2005, 2006, and...

This paper discusses the different functions that capital markets and banks have in economic development, and it reviews the debate about marketbased vs. bank-based financial systems. Using data for a sample of 40 countries over the period 1975-98, the paper then shows that variation in both...

This study presents the macroeconomic context of sub-Saharan Africa and gives an overview of current developments and trends in the region’s banking sector. In addition, it discusses challenges to and opportunities for further development of the sub-Saharan African banking sector, including...

Using a novel way to identify relationship and transaction banks, we study how banks' lending techniques affect funding to SMEs over the business cycle. For 21 countries we link the lending techniques that banks use in the direct vicinity of firms to these firms' credit constraints at two...