A New Year, and progress, of sorts, for EU bank structural
reform. The European Parliament's Rapporteur, Gunnar
Hökmark, has published his draft report for the Parliament's
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON), while the
outgoing Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union
published a progress report as the file was handed over to
the Latvians. The picture remains too unclear for an assessment of
eventual outcomes, but the parameters for the debate are beginning
to emerge. In particular, Mr Hökmark's report contains a
number of significant proposed amendments which demand close
scrutiny.
There appears to be growing consensus that the EU's new
capital and resolution frameworks achieve a great deal, and that
additional bank structural reforms should focus on residual risks.
Market making is generally held to be a 'good thing', and
there is agreement that legislators should be careful not to damage
liquidity by unduly restricting banks' ability
