EU Capital Markets Union: the good, the bad and the ugly

Abstract

This article broadly contextualises Capital Markets Union (CMU) in the Europe Union and introduces the three substantive articles that make up this symposium. The articles contain much substantive information, not only on the European Commission's public consultation in 2015 but also on trade responses to the consultation. Besides that, Kern Alexander, Ismail Ertürk and Dieter Pesendorfer offer some contrasting perspectives on CMU, suggesting respectively that it is along the right lines; that it needs better calibrating to the EU; and that it misses the opportunity to transform finance. The European Commission's further proposals, including legislation, flow from late 2015 onwards.

Notes

1 K Dyson, “Sworn to Grim Necessity? Imperfections of European Economic Governance, Normative Political Theory, and Supreme Emergency” (2013) 35(3) Journal of European Integration 207, 208, 217, 220, 221.

2 B Jopson and S Donnan, “US Urges Debt Relief for Greece”, Financial Times, 8 July 2015, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/48d03356-2583-11e5-bd83-71cb60e8f08c.html, last accessed 12 September 2015.

3 See European Commission, Green Paper: Building a Capital Markets Union, SWD(2015) 13 final, http://ec.europa.eu/finance/consultations/2015/capital-markets-union/docs/green-paper_en.pdf, last accessed 12 September 2015. This CMU consultation was accompanied a consultation on high quality securitisation and by a consultation on the review of the Prospectus Directive. The consultation and responses received can be found on the Commission's website at http://ec.europa.eu/finance/capital-markets-union/index_en.htm, last accessed 12 September 2015.

4 G Parker, “PM ‘Seeking EU Employment Law Opt Out’”, Financial Times, 11 July 2015, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/36b974b4-27ec-11e5-8db8-c033edba8a6e.html, last accessed 12 September 2015.

5 HM Treasury, Bank of England, and Financial Conduct Authority, Fair and Effective Markets Review: Final Report (June 2015), http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/markets/Documents/femrjun15.pdf. C Binham and P Jenkins, “UK Bank Rule Reformers Call End to Age of Big Stick”, Financial Times, 11 June 2015, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/184ec010-1063-11e5-b4dc-00144feabdc0.html, last accessed 12 September 2015.

6 With the proviso that future convictions could be evaded by traders if they are a little more circumspect in their communication: see F Partnoy, “Few Traders Are Likely to Be Deterred by Verdict on Tom Hayes”, Financial Times, 4 August 2015, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9a1019b8-3a94-11e5-bbd1-b37bc06f590c.html, last accessed 12 September 2015.

7 J Ford, “More Relief for Banks as Osborne Reins in Watchdog”, Financial Times, 19 July 2015, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/33d45960-2df7-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html, last accessed 12 September 2015.

8 Although there are some hitches there, see S Akhtar and V Jones, “Proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): In Brief”, 11 June 2014, Washington, Congressional Research Service, https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43158.pdf, last accessed 12 September 2015.

9 M Hoenig, Statement of FDIC Vice Chairman Thomas M Hoenig on the Single Point of Entry Strategy, 10 December 2013, Washington, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, https://www.fdic.gov/about/learn/board/hoenig/statement20131210b.html, last accessed 12 September 2015. See also D Skeel, “Single Point of Entry and the Bankruptcy Alternative”, in MN Baily and JB Taylor (eds), Across the Great Divide: New Perspectives on the Financial Crisis (Stanford, CA, Hoover Press, 2014), http://www.hoover.org/research/across-great-divide-new-perspectives-financial-crisis-0, last accessed 12 September 2015.

10 G Afonso and J Santos, “What Do Bond Markets Think about ‘Too-Big-to-Fail' Since Dodd-Frank?”, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 1 July 2015, http://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2015/07/what-do-bond-markets-think-about-too-big-to-fail-since-dodd-frank.html, last accessed 12 September 2015.

11 E Liikanen, Final Report of the High-level Expert Group on reforming the structure of the EU banking sector, chaired by Erkki Liikanen, Brussels, 2 October 2012. http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/bank/docs/high-level_expert_group/report_en.pdf, last accessed 12 September 2015.

12 European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Structural Measures improving the Resilience of EU Credit Institutions, 29 January 2014, Brussels, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014PC0043&from=EN, last accessed 12 September 2015.

13 Council of the European Union, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Structural Measures improving the Resilience of EU Credit Institutions – General Approach, 19 June 2015, Brussels, http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2015/06/pdf/st10150-en15_pdf, last accessed 12 September 2015.

14 Lord Hill, Speaking notes of Commissioner Jonathan Hill on Bank Structural Reform at ECOFIN meeting, Luxembourg, European Commission statement, 19 June 2015, p 1, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-15-5237_en.htm, last accessed 12 September 2015. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52014PC0043&from=EN, last accessed 12 September 2015.

15 I Hardie and H Macartney, “Too Big to Separate? A French and German Defence of Their Biggest Banks”, 26 March 2015, Brussels, Finance Watch, http://www.finance-watch.org/hot-topics/blog/1067, last accessed 12 September 2015.

16 I Hardie and H Macartney, supra n 13, no page number.

Additional information

Nicholas Dorn, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London.