eu commission seeks views on shadow banking and bank accounts March 20, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : consultation , add a commentTwo new consultations: today’s on bank accounts, which focuses on whether there should be EU measures with respect to the lack of transparency and comparability of bank fees, high switching costs, and difficulties of access to basic banking services, and yesterday’s via a green paper on shadow banking.
eu commission asks for examples of double non-taxation March 5, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : consultation , add a commentThis is a “fact-finding public consultation” (responses to be submitted here) according to the staff working paper which states:
It is undesirable that in the EU Internal Market a taxpayer is subject to double non-taxation on his/her cross-border activity as this gives the taxpayer a competitive advantage compared to other taxpayers who are subject to ordinary taxation. Our aim is to obtain a better picture of the real problem and, if possible, of its financial impact. You are also invited to provide any suggestions you might have for ways in which the different cases of double non-taxation could be tackled, for instance by legislative approaches, increased information measures or good governance rules.
increasing participation of women in corporate boards March 5, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : gender , add a commentThe EU Commission launched a consultation today on gender imbalance on corporate boards (see the Progress Report). The consultation questions move from asking how effective self-regulation is to asking whether there should be sanctions for not meeting objectives. Meanwhile the OECD has a Gender Browser which provides access to data on this issue.
my transparency paper in american university business law review February 29, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : transparency , add a commentIs here.
eesc opinion on how to involve civil society in financial regulation February 27, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : Uncategorized , add a commentThe EESC announces that it is going to get more involved in discussions about financial regulation:
One of the difficulties in adopting rules in this field has been, and still is, how to ensure that differing and contradictory positions are given a balanced hearing within a pluralistic and democratic opinion-forming process. There is currently no effective counterweight from civil society organisations to the legitimate representation of the financial sector’s interests, and this asymmetry should be rectified in the new financial legislation.
And it urges the EU institutions and the Member States to act “to achieve wider involvement of civil society in the regulation of financial markets”.
tclp conference on the eu’s sovereign debt crisis February 23, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : events , add a commentTomorrow I will be in Iowa speaking at the TCLP conference on The European Sovereign Debt Crisis: A Critical Assessment of the Euro and EMU.
council agrees short selling regulation February 21, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation , add a commentThe text is here.
seminar on the state of the eu – university of miami 24 february 2012 February 16, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : events , add a commentThe Miami-Florida European Union Center of Excellence, a consortium of Florida International University and the University of Miami and the UM Jean Monnet Chair, will co-host a seminar discussing the state of the European Union on Friday, February 24th at the UM School of Business, AGB 431 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, American Jewish Committee, and Center of International Business Education & Research.
Political analysts and scholars will present the projected future of the European Union considering the Eurozone Crisis and the latest decisions of the EU Council that have opened the door to an unknown chapter of European history. With the EU presenting today a different face than decades ago and offering somewhat different challenges to be met, the seminar will focus on questions concerning: the state of the Union(s), the direction the EU is going to take, how the rest of the world understands regional integration, and the consequences and impact of the current EU crisis on international business.
The event is open to the public and to the press.
esma short selling consultation February 15, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : consultation, transparency , add a commentThe responses are in and you can see them here. A number of the responses comment on the very short time for consultation. Today there’s a new consultation on technical advice relating to the same regulation which closes on March 9. The Consultation document says:
Who should read this paper
This paper may be specifically of interest to investors that take short positions, hedge funds, investment
firms whose clients hold short positions or engage in CDS activity, securities lending firms, hedge funds,
prime brokers, custodians, settlement systems, national debt management agencies and issuers.
But they still only get just over 3 weeks to respond.
There will be an open hearing on 29 February 2012.
Meanwhile I have been working on a paper on transparency and financial regulation in the EU.
football (soccer) and the financial markets February 13, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : markets , add a commentA new ECB working paper by Michael Ehrmann and David-Jan Jansen with the title “The Pitch Rather Than The Pit: Investor Inattention During FIFA World Cup Matches”. Here’s the abstract:
At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, many soccer matches were played during stock market trading hours, providing us with a natural experiment to analyze fluctuations in investor attention. Using minuteâ€byâ€minute trading data for fifteen international stock exchanges, we present three key findings. First, when the national team was playing, the number of trades dropped by 45%, while volumes were 55% lower. Second, market activity was influenced by match events. For instance, a goal caused an additional drop in trading activity by 5%. The magnitude of this reduction resembles what is observed during lunchtime, and as such might not be indicative for shifts in attention. However, our third finding is that the comovement between national and global stock market returns decreased by over 20% during World Cup matches, whereas no comparable decoupling can be found during lunchtime. We conclude that stock markets were following developments on the soccer pitch rather than in the trading pit, leading to a changed price formation process.