Lunchtime events
Eurozone sovereign bond markets are in the eye of the storm. High borrowing costs and a fragmented sovereign issuances in Europe may be overcome in the future if fiscal consolidation and structural reforms deliver economic growth and greater integration by filling gaps in competitiveness among member states.
After months of discussions, the European Commission officially released the draft level 1 text of the new Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) and Regulation (MiFIR) on October 20th.
Overreliance on external ratings by investors has come under scrutiny since the crisis, where it emerged as a source of systemic risk –difficult to mitigate save by increasing transparency and encouraging own due diligence by investors.
The introduction of an EU-wide tax on financial transactions is set to be a topic for discussion during the next months. In a non-legislative report on ‘innovative financing’ adopted in March by the EP, a wide majority asked for a tax on financial transactions of between 0,01 and 0,05% to be introduced in Europe.