A political crisis was the last thing Italy needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet a personal conflict between the leader of Italia Viva, Matteo Renzi, and the previous prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, led to the collapse of the coalition in mid-January. President Sergio Mattarella then...
The current public health crisis has become a major challenge for European economies. It particularly affects countries in the southern part of the eurozone, as they are still suffering from the effects of the euro debt crisis of 2009-12. In the absence of a convincing fiscal policy response from...
Two reports published in early 2020 shed new light on this challenge. The European Central Bank’s (ECB) risk report on less-significant institutions is the first of what is intended to be an annual series. The impact assessment study on the most important differences between...
As the COVID-19 pandemic and policy reactions have disrupted markets, bankers on both sides of the Atlantic have called for the relaxation of accounting standards introduced in the wake of the 2007-08 global financial crisis. This set of standards is known as expected credit loss...
Institutional reform is the need of the hour as central banks reach the limits of monetary policy and interest groups hijack fiscal policy. This week, the rather colorless European Central Bank (ECB) took center stage. On March 10, ECB President Mario Draghi announced a surprise stimulus. The...
European banks haven’t recovered as well as American banks from the financial crisis. Investors have sold off shares as banks face tighter margins and an ongoing slowdown. Bank stocks are taking a drubbing globally, but the picture is a bit more glum in Europe. The Stoxx Europe 600 Banks Index...
Global trading links are so dependent that not only do exports cross oceans, but deflation can as well. Deflationary forces have been kicking up turbulence in Europe, prodding eurozone leaders to finally embrace quantitative easing (QE) as a way to drive economic growth. The facts became...
