News

ECRI has published the Summer edition of its quarterly Newsletter. The issue includes, inter alia, the key findings of the 2010 ECRI Statistical Package, the institute's flagship publication on consumer credit and housing loans in Europe. In addition, the newsletter covers the second meeting of the CEPS/ECRI Task Force on retail credit in Europe and features an article on the Flash Eurobarometer's survey on financial vulnerability of European households.

To download ECRI News, please click here.

The European Credit Research Institute (ECRI) has just published the 2010 version of its annual Statistical Package, a comprehensive collection of data on lending to households, covering all European countries and other key global economies for the period 1995-2009. Its purpose is to allow users to make reliable comparisons of the retail credit market across countries, including consumer credit, housing loans and loans to non-financial corporations.

The European Credit Research Institute (ECRI) has published the 2010 edition of its Statistical Packages. Since 2003, ECRI has published a highly authoritative, widely cited and complete set of statistics on consumer credit in Europe, a valuable research tool which allows users to make meaningful comparisons between all 27 EU member states as well as with a number of selected non-EU countries, including the US and Canada.

The UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has on 13th July 2010 published its Consultation Paper 10/16 – Mortgage Market Review: Responsible Lending, setting out its proposals which aim “to ensure all mortgages are carefully assessed to make sure borrowers can afford them.”

In the context of the ongoing discussions on improving financial regulation, the European Commission has proposed modifications to existing legislation with the primary aim of increasing consumer protection and confidence. This would ultimately contribute to enhancing stability in financial markets and preventing possible future crises as well. The legislative proposal addresses deposit guarantee and investor compensation schemes. Furthermore, the Commission adopted a White Paper on Insurance Guarantee Schemes.

This Policy Brief by CEPS Chief Executive Karel Lannoo provides a brief analysis of the impact of the financial crisis on the banking sector from the perspective of Europe 2020.

The author starts with an overview of the effect of the financial crisis on large banks and then reviews the key regulatory reform proposals, discussing their impact on the structure and profitability of the banking sector.

The European Commission has published the report “Gaining scale in microcredit – can banks make it happen?” on two workshops that were organised by DG Enterprise and Industry in November 2008 and March 2009. Workshop participants included representatives from public and private banks, associations, consultancies and national governments from ten EU member states.

ECRI has published the Spring edition of its quarterly Newsletter. The issue includes, inter alia, a summary of a paper on cross-border depositing by Stefanie Kleimeier from Maastricht University, as well as coverage of the ECRI breakfast meeting on the launch of the European Payment Index and the discussion of the Late Payment Directive.

To download ECRI News, please click here.

An assessment carried out by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Central Bank has concluded that market migration from legacy to SEPA systems requires the mandatory end-dates for both credit transfers and direct debits.

Daniel Gros, Director of CEPS, and real estate specialist Achim Dübel of Berlin-based Finpolconsult have been appointed to the European Commission’s Group of Experts in Banking Issues (GEBI). The group is expected to facilitate the communication between the banking industry, consumers and the European institutions.