European Financial Market Research Articles

The Use of XBRL in the European Financial Markets

The use of XML and its related languages especially XBRL in the financial markets is likely to raise much attention the next few years. Different projects are being studied: linkage of the business registers, remote access to the annual accounts, organising the distribution of the financial information by listed companies, use for reporting by banks and insurance companies, as some applications that are already in place or being developed. The impact of an efficient information distribution system could help protect creditors, make cross border relations more secure and support the competitiveness of our financial markets.

Setting the Pace? Private Financial Interests and European Financial Market Integration

The regulation and supervision of financial services in the EU has undergone significant change between 2000 and 2005, when the so-called Lamfalussy framework, the Basel 2 agreement and its transposition into the Capital Requirements Directive were agreed. This research examines the preferences of national financial interest groups in Germany and the UK (the independent variable) in shaping national input and, more precisely, the contributions given by the relevant public authorities to EU and international policy-making processes (the dependent variable). The impact, if any, on the final outputs (the relevant international and EU agreements) is also discussed. It is argued that the level of involvement of each interest group depends on the policy content, namely, whether the policy concerns a broad institutional issue or specific rules, while the degree of interest group influence in policy-making processes depends on domestic institutions, namely state structure, interest representation and political economy institutions.

The Competitiveness of European Financial Markets

The countries that together make up the euro area are undergoing a process of far-reaching change, with established national financial markets merging into one new European market accompanied by deregulation, cross-border consolidation, and increased competition within the euro area. These developments will help to increase longterm economic growth and will have a strong bearing on the international competitiveness of the European financial sector, leading to innovation and modernisation. This paper presents the underlying rationale of financial integration and increased competitiveness of European financial markets and provides a snapshot of where financial integration has been successful and where work is ongoing. It also notes important historical experiences of U.S. financial integration. It concludes by highlighting the role and recent activities of the European Central Bank and the Eurosystem in promoting and enhancing further financial integration.

The Marketisation of European Corporate Control: A Critical Political Economy Perspective

We are entering into a new phase in EU corporate governance. More than ever, our action plan must be focused and based on a solid assessment of actual needs of market players and investors. 1 As Ch...

Settling for efficiency – A framework for the European securities transaction industry

Despite a lot of restructuring and many innovations in recent years, the securities transaction industry in the European Union is still a highly inefficient and inconsistently configured system for cross-border transactions. This paper analyzes the functions performed, the institutions involved and the parameters concerned that shape market and ownership structure in the industry. Of particular interest are microeconomic incentives of the main players that can be in contradiction to social welfare. We develop a framework and analyze three consistent systems for the securities transaction industry in the EU that offer superior efficiency than the current, inefficient arrangement. Some policy advice is given to select the ‘best’ system for the Single European Financial Market.

Markets in Financial Instruments Directive - The Way Forward in European Securities Market Integration?

European financial market integration and investor protection are the main objectives of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The public discussion on the effectiveness of MiFID is still controversial before its entry into force in November 2007. We contribute to this discussion by comparing MiFID against selected aspects of regulatory and financial market integration theory and provide empirical evidence on MiFID driving changes in securities market structure. Four new initiatives in trade reporting and transaction business are discussed with their likely impacts. We conclude that MiFID is generally in line with theoretical requirements and therefore suitable to achieve its objectives. On the empirical side, new initiatives will increase competition. The market for trade reporting services will change significantly whereas new initiatives in transaction services are not able to differentiate themselves successfully in existent competition.

The Euro and European financial market dependence

A time-varying copula model is used to investigate the impact of the introduction of the Euro on the dependence between 17 European stock markets during the period 1994–2003. The model is implemented with a GJR-GARCH-MA- t model for the marginal distributions and the Gaussian copula for the joint distribution, which allows capturing time-varying, non-linear relationships. The results show that, within the Euro area, market dependence increased after the introduction of the common currency only for large equity markets, such as in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Structural break tests indicate that the increase in financial market dependence started around the beginning of 1998 when Euro membership was determined and the relevant information was announced. The UK and Sweden, but not other European countries outside the Euro area, are found to exhibit an increase in equity market co-movement, which is consistent with the interpretation that these countries may be expected to join the Euro in the future.

Intégration des marchés financiers européens : Priorité à la concurrence et à la diversité

European financial market integration : priority for competition and diversity Shaping the European financial markets remains an important political task. The political discussion on this issue has recently gained momentum at national and European levels. Therefore, stability and sustainability to safeguard smooth market development is of the utmost importance. The German Savings Banks Association is in favour of a design of the European financial markets that clearly focuses on diversity, competition and an organic process of harmonised supervision. Pluralist financial market conditions ensure efficient solutions for customers in Europe. JEL classification : G15, G18, G21

La coopération entre superviseurs bancaires nationaux

Cooperation between national banking supervisors A very high level of cooperation between national banking supervisors inside the European Union is an undeniable need. For many reasons, the cooperation level that will be reached, in particular for supervisors regulating the same financial company within several Members States, will be the efficient key test of the decentralized system of supervision that political authorities decided to preserve. This cooperation can easily be merged with the convergence of the supervision practices which is the only way to create a real competing environment. Convergence is actually the implementation of the legal practises framework for banking supervision determined by the European institutions ; the cooperation needs an additional level of will to work together and share a true common culture in the single European financial market context. JEL classification : F36, F42, G28

Reordering the Marketplace: Competition Politics in European Finance*

AbstractOver the last 15 years, Europe has seen the liberalization of national financial markets as well as the integration of these markets and their governance through the introduction of the ‘Lamfalussy process’. This article argues that we can best understand these shifts as one integrated project of market‐building in Europe, guided by distributional struggles over the terms of mutual markets access. To comprehend the complex linkages between private and public actors across levels of governance, we have to look beyond macro‐theories of integration and financial liberalization upholding an analytical state‐market dichotomy and adopt an integrative approach to theory, instead. Using the example of securities markets, this article argues that ‘competition politics’ are key to understanding European financial market integration.

Expected earnings growth and the cost of capital: an analysis of accounting regime change in the European financial market

This study focuses on the relation between the cost of equity capital and earnings expectations when the properties of accounting that determine earnings vary across different regulatory regimes. More particularly, it addresses the European setting where different types of GAAP regime have continued to function in the presence of the gradual harmonization of the underlying legal framework, and where the adoption of internationally recognized accounting standards by certain firms has anticipated the requirement for International Financial Reporting Standards. On the basis of estimates of the cost of equity that are implied by analysts’ earnings forecasts, the article provides evidence that financial market integration may have already contributed to mitigating the economic consequences of accounting diversity, and that switching to IFRS could have a short lived impact on capital markets. Moreover, based on firm level transparency and disclosure rankings provided by Standard and Poor's, it is shown how the quality of financial reporting conditions the implied cost of equity under different GAAP.

European Financial Market Integration and German Cross Border Portfolio Flows

The paper analyzes the effect of European financial integration, especially of the EMU, on gross portfolio flows between Germany and 47 countries from 1987 to 2002. A gravity model of asset trade a la Martin and Rey (2004) is estimated. The following results are found: (1) There is substantially more portfolio trade between Germany and countries also participating in stage one and three of the EMU. More specifically: Since 2001 cross border portfolio flows between Germany and EMU countries are significantly larger compared to flows between Germany and Denmark, the UK, and Sweden which are part of the EU-15 but not of the Euro area. (2) Developments intertwined with the formation of the EMU such as changes in exchange rate volatility, financial market development and increased real economic integration among EMU countries are not able to account for this effect. (3) The EMU effect on gross portfolio flows is larger for transacting countries with more developed banking and equity markets and for country pairs with more correlated business cycles.

Expected Earnings Growth and the Cost of Capital: An Analysis of Accounting Regime Change in the European Financial Market

This study focuses on the relation between the cost of equity capital and earnings expectations when the properties of accounting that determine earnings vary across different regulatory regimes. More particularly, it addresses the European setting where different types of GAAP regime have continued to function in the presence of the gradual harmonization of the underlying legal framework, and where the adoption of internationally recognised accounting standards by certain firms has anticipated the requirement for International Financial Reporting Standards. On the basis of estimates of the cost of equity that are implied by analysts' earnings forecasts, the paper provides evidence that financial market integration may have already contributed to mitigating the economic consequences of accounting diversity, and that switching to IFRS could have a short lived impact on capital markets. Moreover, based on firm level transparency and disclosure rankings provided by Standard and Poor's, it is shown how the quality of financial reporting conditions the implied cost of equity under different GAAP.

Infrastructures de marché : harmonisation des pratiques de marché et intégration des systèmes

Market infrastructure institutions : market practices’ harmonization and systems’ integration This article presents the main implemented process aiming to reach to a real European financial market. This article deals only with the post-traded market and particularly one of its components : the settlement/delivery system. It’s one of the major priorities of European authorities. The key factors are market process, practices and legal environment’s harmonization (included the fiscal process’s harmonization). JEL classification : F36, G14, G28

Market infrastructures : harmonisation of market practices and integration of systems

This article tries to demonstrate, various processes are in progress today to eventually produce a genuine integrated European financial market. However, only one aspect was mentioned here, the one we usually refer to as the back office, and more specifically one of the back office components : settlement. It is however worth underlining that this sector is considered as one of the major priorities of the EU authorities today. Harmonisation of market practices and processes, as well as their regulatory and legal environments (including harmonisation within tax processes, e. g. the implementation of withholding tax) rapidly become key factors. JEL classification : F36, G14, G28

The Euro and European Financial Markets

This study argues that the introduction of the euro would have a more immediate and direct impact on European bond markets than on European banking markets. The single currency would create a single private yield curve in the near term and could also lead to a more integrated government bond market. While the immediate impact of the euro for banking markets would be limited, the switch over time by European corporations from bank debt to bond debt would come on top of the competitive challenge that European banks already face. The need for banks to adjust raises a number of potential issues for public policy in Europe, some of which may have broader international implications.

The Euro and European Financial Market Dependence

A time-varying copula model is used to investigate the impact of the introduction of the Euro on the dependence between seventeen European stock markets during the period 1994-2003. The model is implemented with a GJR-GARCH-MA-t model for the marginal distributions and the Gaussian copula for the joint distribution, which allows capturing time-varying, non-linear relationships. The results show that, within the Euro area, market dependence increased after the introduction of the common currency only for large equity markets, such as in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Structural break tests indicate that the increase in financial market dependence started around the beginning of 1998 when Euro membership was determined and the relevant information was announced. The UK and Sweden, but not other European countries outside the Euro area, are found to exhibit an increase in equity market co-movement, which is consistent with the interpretation that these countries may be expected to join the Euro in the future.

Integrity on European Financial Markets: Backgrounds, Objectives, Reasons, Overall Contents and Implications of the Market Abuse Directive

Integrity on European Financial Markets: Backgrounds, Objectives, Reasons, Overall Contents and Implications of the Market Abuse Directive

European foreign exchange market efficiency: Evidence based on crisis and noncrisis periods

This study investigates the impact on foreign exchange market efficiency of the 1992 European financial market crisis by studying precrisis, crisis, and postcrisis periods. Long-term relationships among European currency values are identified during the three periods, although the relationships are not stable during the precrisis and the postcrisis periods. These results may be due to one or more of the following: (1) market inefficiency, (2) a risk premium, or (3) common policy guidelines for European monetary system (EMS) members. Evidence of market inefficiency is strong. Forecasting results demonstrate better performance by an error correction model (ECM) than by a random walk model (RWM) for the British pound and German mark, while results for the French franc and Italian lira are mixed. Dominance tests using Granger causality indicate only weak German mark dominance both in the short and long run.

Integration of EU financial markets supervision: Harmonisation or unification?

The paper highlights what are currently the most relevant aspects in the debate surrounding the possible reform in the institutional setup of financial markets regulation and supervision, not least about the future role of Central Banks. As a preliminary question, the definition of financial stability is addressed. Then, the importance of stability for the economy and the specific role of regulators and supervisors and possible regulatory failure are discussed. On this basis, a possible evolving design for regulation and supervision on a national and a European level has to be checked against optimality, taking into account the different objectives of state intervention into the market. Finally the state of play in the institutional reform of European financial market legislation is described.