OECD Journal: Financial Market Trends

Frequency :
Semiannual
ISSN :
1995-2872 (online)
ISSN :
1995-2864 (print)
DOI :
10.1787/19952872
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The twice-yearly journal from OECD providing timely analyses and statistics on financial matters of topical interest and longer-term developments in specific financial sectors. Each issue provides a brief update of trends and prospects in the international and major domestic financial markets along with articles covering such topics as structural and regulatory developments in OECD financial systems, trends in foreign direct investment, trends in privatization, and financial sector statistics covering areas such as bank profitability, insurance, and institutional investors.

Periodically, a small number of articles within one field of financial sector developments – constituting the so-called special focus for the particular issue – may be included.

Now published as part of the OECD Journal package.

 

Latest Articles Hide / Show all Abstracts

Mark Number Date Article Volume and Issue Download
  23 Mar 2012 Index of Recent Features
OECD 		Volume 2011 Issue 2
  23 Mar 2012 The Future of Debt Markets
Hans J. Blommestein, Alison Harwood, Allison Holland
Discussions at the 12th OECD-WBG-IMF Global Bond Market Forum focused on three key areas related to the future of debt markets: i) the challenges facing new and infrequent sovereign issuers in assuring durable market access in frontier and emerging markets; ii) the future prospects for the securitisation and covered bond markets; and iii) the future role of large bond investors.
 Volume 2011 Issue 2
  23 Mar 2012 Highlights from the OECD Sovereign Borrowing Outlook 2012
Hans J. Blommestein, Ahmet Keskinler, Perla Ibarlucea Flores
OECD governments are facing unprecedented challenges in the markets for government securities as a result of continued strong borrowing amid a highly uncertain environment with growing concerns about the pace of recovery, surging borrowing costs, sovereign risk and contagion pressures.
 Volume 2011 Issue 2
  23 Mar 2012 The Financial Industry in the New Regulatory Landscape
Gert Wehinger
The financial market outlook and risks as well as the impact of regulatory reforms on the financial sector were the topics discussed at the October 2011 OECD Financial Roundtable. Concerns about the current situation in financial markets were centred on the sovereign debt and banking crisis in Europe and its repercussions in other parts of the world. Many participants felt that policy makers had not been doing enough to address the crisis and that bold action and ‘circuit breakers’ to stop the negative feedback loops were needed to restore market confidence. Regarding regulation, while the financial industry broadly expressed support for Basel III reforms, some elements like the SIFI surcharge were criticised. The industry was also sceptical regarding the benefits of separation of banks’ businesses (Volcker rule, Vickers proposal) and broadly rejected the EU proposal of a financial transaction tax. While policy makers regarded some of the industry’s regulatory concerns as valid, they stressed the aim of regulatory reforms to make the financial sector safer, thus making downsizing of a certain kind of financial intermediation unavoidable. But the right balance needs to be found in terms of the extent and the timing of regulatory reforms; downsizing in the current situation should perhaps be encouraged less quickly in some cases.
 Volume 2011 Issue 2
  23 Mar 2012 Solving the Financial and Sovereign Debt Crisis in Europe
Adrian Blundell-Wignall
This paper examines the policies that have been proposed to solve the financial and sovereign debt crisis in Europe, against the backdrop of what the real underlying problems are: extreme differences in competitiveness; the absence of a growth strategy; sovereign, household and corporate debt at high levels in the very countries that are least competitive; and banks that have become too large, driven by dangerous trends in ‘capital markets banking’. The paper explains how counterparty risk spreads between banks and how the sovereign and banking crises are serving to exacerbate each other. Of all the policies proposed, the paper highlights those that are coherent and the magnitudes involved if the euro is not to fracture.
 Volume 2011 Issue 2
  23 Mar 2012 The EU Architecture to Avert a Sovereign Debt Crisis
Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal
This paper analyses what has been the EU institutional reaction to the Euro-area sovereign debt problems, focusing in particular on the new architecture designed to avert a financial crisis. It analyses i) the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), an EU financial assistance feature available to all 27 member states; ii) the European Financial Stabilisation Facility (EFSF), a temporary credit-enhanced Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with minimal capitalisation created to raise funds from the capital markets (via an investment grade rating) and to provide financial assistance to distressed euroarea Member States (EAMS) at comparatively lower interest rates; and iii) the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an intergovernmental organisation under public international law. Finally, some concluding remarks are provided.
 Volume 2011 Issue 2
  23 Mar 2012 The Federal Agency for Financial Market Stabilisation in Germany
Christopher Pleister
One important element of the response to the crisis in Germany was the establishment of a new institution, the Bundesanstalt für Finanzmarktstabilisierung (Federal Agency for Financial Market Stabilisation, henceforth FMSA). The aim was to supplement the range of tasks performed by the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority). Neither one of these two institutions nor the legal framework, including especially the insolvency laws, were adequate for rescuing and restructuring stressed banks. While the FMSA was initially conceived as a temporary undertaking, the new German Restructuring Act implies that the FMSA is now a permanent part of the German banking landscape.
 Volume 2011 Issue 2
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