EU and Eurozone break both the spirit and the letter of global debt rules

EU and Eurozone break global debt rules

The EU and its member states position themselves as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order, but they break its financial rules in both letter and spirit by failing to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat – ‘General government gross debt’ – is circumvented […]

EU and Eurozone debts are a risk to global financial stability

EU/Eurozone debts: a risk to global financial stability

EU and Eurozone member states understated their debts at the end of 2021 by 44% of EU GDP and their total liabilities by 70%. This represents a major risk to global financial stability, as the understatement causes shortfalls of capital and collateral at the financial institutions that do […]

EU and Eurozone are massively over-indebted – but official figures obscure it

EU and Eurozone are over-indebted

EU and Eurozone member states fail to fully report their financial liabilities. The key measure tracked by Eurostat – ‘General government gross debt’ – is circumvented to such an extent that, based on year-end 2021 figures, debts of around €6.4 trillion failed to be registered, and contingent liabilities of around €3.8 […]

Risk-weighting – how to fake up resilience in a banking system

— as published by IREF Europe on 5th April 2023 —

Introduction

How resilient is the global banking system? Are banks’ capital buffers now much larger than they were going into the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8, as authorities claim?

The buffers – called ‘Common Equity Tier 1’ (or CET1), ‘Tier 1 Capital’, and ‘Total Capital’ – stand […]

Bank Resolution is dead: authorities dare not use it – and instead risk destroying capital markets

— as published by IREF Europe on 29th March 2023 —

The template created after the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8 to shield taxpayers from direct bailouts of failed banks has already folded – authorities dare not use it.

The template is to put failed banks into ‘resolution’, with retail and small business depositors receiving compensation up […]

Liability-Driven Investments crisis shows derivatives remain a systemic risk

Introduction

At the end of September 2022 a number of UK companies’ pension plans reportedly came close to collapse. This was to do with a financial instrument called a Liability-Driven Investment or LDI, which is a form of derivative contract.

The explanations given for what occurred have ranged from ill-informed to denial to distraction. This blog concentrates […]