Nicolas Véron

Financial Statements: How Well is European Banking Supervision Working in Practice?

In today's session, I hosted Kilvar Kessler of the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority and Jonathan Zeitlin of the University of Amsterdam. The intent was to assess European banking supervision (also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism) from the bottom up, complementing the view from the top of that framework in an earlier session of November 2020. 

Financial Statements: Are index funds harmful for global financial stability?

In yesterday's session, I hosted Anusha Chari of UNC Chapel Hill and Alejandro Werner of Georgetown and PIIE, for a discussion based on pioneering research by Chari and her co-authors on the market impact of passive investment strategies. 

Financial Statements: The Nexus of Interest Rates, Banks, and Politics

The session on Wednesday, December 22, explored how far central banks could go into negative interest rates - not a current issue right now, but one that may come back in the medium term. My guests were the IMF's Ruchir Agarwal, and Markus Brunnermeier of Princenton University and PIIE. 

Financial Statements: Lessons Learned on Corporate Credit Risk

In yesterday's session, Sebnem Kalemli-Özcan (University of Maryland) and Atsi Sheth (Moody's) reflected on the benign outcomes so far from the COVID-19 pandemic shock in terms of corporate bankruptcies or zombification. This provided an update on the first-ever Financial Statements session in June 2020, when uncertainty was still very high near the start of the lockdown cycle. 

Financial Statements: The Euro Area is Expanding Again

In today's session, Boris Vujcic of the Croatian National Bank and Julia Kiraly of International Business School Budapest discussed the adoption of the euro by Croatia and prospects of a similar process for other non-euro member states of the European Union. 

Financial Statements: Can a New Government Reform German Finance?

In today's episode, we had a lively discussion of German banking and the ongoing German coalition negotiations with Martin Hellwig and Katharina Gnath. 

Financial Statements: Does China Still Want to Attract Global Investors?

In today's episode, I hosted Wang Tao of UBS Investment Bank and PIIE's Nick Lardy to discuss China's policy orientation following the summer's market turmoil.

Financial Statements: Setting the Standards for Sustainability-related Reporting

In yesterday's episode of Financial Statements, I hosted Lucrezia Reichlin, Trustee of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation, and AssuranceMark founder Samantha Ross, to discuss the IFRS Foundation's ongoing project of establishing an International Sustainability Standards Board.

Financial Statements: Shoring Up Anti-Money Laundering Supervision in Europe

In the latest Financial Statements session on Wednesday, September 1, I hosted John Berrigan of the European Commission and Joshua Kirschenbaum of the German Marshall Fund to debate the Commission's legislative proposal published in July, which aims at a significant upgrade of the European Union's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework. 

Financial Statements: Switzerland's Future as an International Financial Center

In today's session, I discussed ongoing developments affecting Switzerland with Daniela Stoffel of the Swiss Finance Ministry and Daniel Heller of Fnality (and a former PIIE visiting fellow). Themes included the failure of EU-Swiss institutional framework negotiations in May, deleveraging of the two major Swiss banks over recent years, and Swiss leadership in fintech-friendly legislation.

Financial Statements: Africa's Evolving Banking Landscape

This is a belated post on the Financial Statements session I hosted on July 28, with Elsie Addo Awadzi of the Bank of Ghana and Amadou Sy of the International Monetary Fund. 

Financial Statements: Challenges of the Low Interest Rate Era

This is a belated post on the Financial Statements session I hosted on July 14, with Isabel Schnabel of the European Central Bank and Maury Obstfeld of the Peterson Institute and the University of California at Berkeley. 

Financial Statements: Supervising International Clearing Houses

This is a belated post on the Financial Statements session I hosted on June 23, with Klaus Löber of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and Tracey Wingate of the Investment Company Institute (ICI). 

Financial Statements: Looking at the Right Capital Flow Numbers

Today's session of Financial Statements was dedicated to the analysis of cross-border capital flows, particularly in the context of China-US financial (de)coupling. The guest speakers were Brent Neiman of Chicago Booth and Joe Gagnon from PIIE. 

Financial Statements: Sustainable Finance Policy Coordination

In today's episode of the Financial Statements series, I hosted Jörg Kukies of the German Federal Finance Ministry and John Morton of the U.S. Treasury Department, to discuss international policy coordination to promote sustainable finance. 

Financial Statements: Hong Kong as an International Financial Center

In yesterday's episode of Financial Statements, I hosted Douglas Arner of Hong Kong University and investor Lorin Gu, to discuss the status and prospects of Hong Kong as an international financial center. 

Financial Statements: The post-Brexit UK financial sector

In yesterday's session, I hosted Katharine Braddick of the UK Treasury and Douglas Rediker of Brookings and International Capital Strategies, to discuss the prospects for the financial industry in the United Kingdom. 

Financial Statements: Will the Euro Area Ever Complete its Banking Union?

In today's session of Financial Statements, I hosted Luis Garicano, Member of the European Parliament, and Jeromin Zettlemeyer, Deputy Director at the International Monetary Fund on leave from the Peterson Institute. We discussed the current state of the banking union project, and prospects for its further reform. 

Financial Statements: Regulating Financial Activities versus Regulating Entities

During today's session I hosted Fernando Restoy, Chairman of the Financial Stability Institute at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, and Anna Gelpern of Georgetown Law and PIIE. Starting from Mr Restoy's recent paper, we discussed the longstanding debate on activity-based vs entity-based financial regulation, which has been given fresh relevance by the emergence of large tech platform companies as participants in the financial system. 

Financial Statements: Should We Worry about Central Banks Becoming Activist Capital Allocators?

In today's episode of Financial Statements, we revisited the age-old question of how far central banks may venture into discretionary capital allocation, be it for credit support or the fight against global warming. I hosted Stephen Cecchetti, Rosen Family Chair in International Finance at the Brandeis International Business School, and Signe Krogstrup, member of the Board of Governors of the Danish National Bank and a former Visiting Fellow at PIIE. 

Financial Statements: A Holistic Look at Big Tech Regulation

Today in Financial Statements I hosted Hyun Shin (BIS) and Rory MacFarquhar (now at MasterCard and a former PIIE fellow) to discuss the regulation of big tech firms, not least as they enter the financial services space.  

Financial Statements: Post-Brexit Observations on the City of London

In today's episode I hosted William Wright and Nathan Sheets to take stock on the City of London, following the orderly exit of the United Kingdom from the European single market on January 1. 

Financial Statements: Accounting for Banks' Troubled Assets

Today's session of Financial Statements was a discussion of the accounting and regulatory challenges of banks' troubled assets. I hosted William Coen, former Secretary-General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and now the Chair of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Advisory Committee, and PIIE Nonresident Senior Fellow Adnan Mazarei.  

Financial Statements: Zombie Lessons from Japan for the COVID-19 Era

Today I hosted Takeo Hoshi (University of Tokyo) and Takeshi Tashiro (METI and PIIE) for the latest session of Financial Statements, in which we discussed the dynamics of corporate indebtedness and the risk of "zombification" in Japan and elsewhere. 

Financial Statements: the Financial Sector's Value for Money

In this week's Financial Statements, I hosted Thomas Philippon (NYU Stern) and Aaron Byrne (EY Parthenon) to discuss whether the financial industry is better serving the economy and society than in the past, especially with the impact of new technology. Philippon's pioneering research on this theme supports a cautiously optimistic answer.