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Category: Policy Paper

Banking consolidation and risk sharing in the eurozone

In a note summarizing my panel presentation at the recent Belgian Financial Forum /SUERF Conference “Cross border financial services: Europe’s Cinderella?” now appearing in the Revue bancaire et financière, I argue that cross-border banking consolidation is a prerequisite for better risk sharing in the eurozone. However, the incomplete banking union perpetuates regulatory fragmentation an d prevents cross-border consolidation from becoming economically viable. Last but not least, the regional fragmentation of banking markets within many EMU member countries remains one of the biggest obstacles to consolidation, both within and across borders. Download the note here

VoxEU column on Banking Integration in the EMU

In a new column on VoxEU entitled

Banking integration in the EMU — let’s get real

Mathias Hoffmann, Egor Masolv, Bent Sorensen and Iryna Stewen argue  that dependence on domestic banks reduces risk-sharing in a crisis, reducing GDP growth in affected country-sectors. Benefits from banking integration are only robust to global shocks if banking integration takes the form of cross-border lending to firms and households.