The Paris-based European Banking Authority (EBA) today, Tuesday evening, urged all European banks to temporarily suspend dividend payments and share buybacks. The EBA is thus following the European Central Bank (ECB), which on Friday evening had already recommended to major credit institutions it directly supervises to retain profits and reserves until at least 1 October […]
New Banking Subsidies in Italy: Circumvention of EU Law is a dangerous precedent
Last night, the European Commission approved new subsidies for Banca Populare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca. The support comes in the form of 4.8 billion euros of cash plus 12 billion of state guarantees to protect senior creditors and depositors from losses. After the Commission rejected a so-called „precautionary bank recapitalization“ favoured by the Italian […]
Stress test for banks: Taxpayers‘ money should not be used for bank bailouts
The European Banking Authority (EBA) will tonight publish the results of the 2016 stress test for banks. The EBA carries out the test to assess whether banks hold enough capital to see them through a further worsening of the banking crisis. The stress test results play a crucial role in possible bank rescues using state […]
Green study sheds light on hidden subsidies for Europe’s banks
The Greens in the European Parliament have recently released a study which aims to shed light on the subsidies and likewise the gains, which banks implicitly obtain due to the expectation that governments will rescue struggling credit institutions with tax payers money anyway. Creditors take this behaviour of the state into account and therefore lend […]