https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/europe-greening-world-brussels-effect-sustainable-finance Governments, enterprises, and investors are increasingly conscious of the sustainability risks our economies and societies face. While the Covid-19 pandemic poses a grave short-term risk, climate change presents the most severe long-term challenge. One of this blog’s authors, Anu Bradford, coined...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/changing-face-euro-supra-bond-market The bond market is also more attractive for issuers than a decade ago. Today execution risk for SSA issuers has been reduced. Meanwhile, order books for SSA bond issues have mushroomed. Trust in Europe is higher among investors than a decade ago; the fear of a euro break-up is behind us and, unlike...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/taking-stock-euro-area-pandemic-response At the onset of the pandemic, government measures to buffer their economies were complemented by swift EU support of furlough schemes for workers and liquidity support for companies. In addition, the Recovery and Resilience Facility was launched to make the EU greener and more digital. At the...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/how-esm-aaa-bonds-weathered-pandemic-storm When the pandemic hit Europe, the initial market shock was calmed by the positive reaction to the European Central Bank’s €1,850 billion monetary Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) bond-buying operations and the European fiscal policy response: a package of measures from the European...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/european-supervision-fit-capital-markets-union Last summer, a High Level Forum reported on the progress needed to make CMU work. One of this blog’s authors was a Forum participant. The authors of this blog followed up by publishing a blog post detailing the five inescapable “S” features CMU needs. In November, the European Commission, which...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/digital-investor-relations-and-hybrid-journeys-future Little did I realise when I flew back from Northern Africa a year ago that February would be my last physical meeting with investors for the remainder of the year. In March 2020, all travel abruptly stopped as countries went into lockdown and travel restrictions were imposed due to Covid-19. The...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/showing-how-eu-solidarity-calmed-markets-over-brexit In this blog post, we track market responses in the weeks before and after the Brexit vote as well as in the first week of January 2021 when the EU-UK agreement entered into force. It reveals that market tension has never again reached the peaks attained back in 2016, not even during the current...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/teleworking-transforming-insights-progress In my recent column Inner Workings: When a global health crisis hits home, I announced a survey the ESM conducted in September to look into how extensive, pandemic-related teleworking affected our staff and our ways of working. Today, I can reveal some of the findings of this survey and explain how...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/esm-reform-healing-euro-area-pandemic-scars-and-beyond Covid-19 pandemic leaves scars on the euro area economy The pandemic is taking a tremendous toll not only on the health of citizens, but also on their livelihoods. Unemployment is rising; businesses are struggling. Uncertainty about the duration and impact of the current pandemic remains high and a...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/backstop-single-resolution-fund-now Banks are in a better position than during the euro crisis… Banks were better prepared for a downturn. Policymakers and banking supervisors learned from the past crisis, tightened up the regulatory toolkit and set the right system of rules and incentives to make banks develop their risk management...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/assessing-sovereigns-market-access-euro-area In this blog post, we will show that macro-financial indicators can signal risks to market tensions before they materialise, giving policy-makers as much as a year forewarning to tailor a response to the unique origin and impact of each crisis. Economic discipline and reforms stemming from the debt...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/inner-workings-when-global-health-crisis-hits-home

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/pandemic-crisis-catalyst-common-european-safe-asset

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/addressing-the-risk-of-regional-disparities

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/out-box-why-europe-borrows-us-dollars Earlier this month, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) issued its fourth US dollar bond to qualified institutional buyers. This $3 billion 5-year maturity bond was our most successful issue since our October 2017 inaugural dollar issue. The new bond attracted new clients, from new central banks...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/stronger-banking-union-stronger-recovery European banks are safer since the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis. With the outbreak of the pandemic, a number of measures were put in place to make sure liquidity reaches the real economy. Nicoletta Mascher and Rolf Strauch argue that banks need a stronger and completed...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/why-covid-19-credit-line-still-makes-sense It is two months since the ESM became part of Europe’s response to the devastating Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Europe agreed that the ESM should provide a credit line worth up to €240 billion to help euro area member states cover healthcare costs related to Covid-19. In that time, there has been much...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/how-europe%E2%80%99s-pandemic-response-reduced-market-uncertainty The eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in large market movements, as investors feared the financial and economic consequences of the crisis. A swift European policy response restored market confidence, and data from the fixed-income options market has vividly demonstrated this return to...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/same-crisis-different-responses-covid-19 Covid-19 painfully hit Europe and Asia. Policymakers in both regions reacted swiftly to the unprecedented downturn with large rescue packages but with different policy actions. Chief Economists Hoe Ee Khor from AMRO and Rolf Strauch from ESM explain why. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in more...

https://www.esm.europa.eu/blog/institutional-insider-virtual-decision-making-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%9Cnew-normal%E2%80%9D During the pandemic, virtual meetings became the new normal. Did the virtual format affect institutional decision-making or the outcomes of meetings? What have been the challenges for those behind the scenes in high-level meetings? ESM’s institutional insider, Secretary General Nicola Giammarioli...