The Future of Sovereign Borrowing in a Changing European Banking Landscape: Drivers, Links and Feedbacks

The changing landscape for European banks influences the future of sovereign borrowing and vice versa. The fates of banks and sovereigns are intertwined, including by toxic feed-back loops between them. The study suggests considering four policy principles or guidelines to weaken the toxic feed-back links between failing financial institutions and sovereigns. The implied efforts to reduce the impact of these adverse feed-back loops are therefore additional drivers of the changing landscape for banks and sovereigns in Europe. Sovereigns also need to address the challenges associated with the reduced role and (capital) commitment of primary dealer banks in both primary and secondary markets for government debt.