Banks mustmake forward-looking provisions for loan losses undernewinternational accounting standards introduced in 2018. In Europe, banks will assign performing exposures to a new "Stage 2" category with a higher provisioning penalty, if they have experienced significant increase in credit risk...

The post-2008 period in the euro area was characterised by sharp dispersion in borrowing costs faced by firms, across both countries and firm types. This dispersion was an important manifestation of the financial fragmentation" which hampered the smooth transmission of accommodative monetary...