Banks in Europe: The Impact of the Recent Regulatory Reforms

Franklin ALLEN Professeur de finance, Wharton School (Philadelphie). Contact : allenf@wharton.upenn.edu

Thorsten BECK Cass Business School ; CEPR (Centre for Economic and Policy Research). Contact : Thorsten.Beck.1@city.ac.uk

Elena CARLETTI Professeur d’économie, Institut universitaire européen. Contact : elena.carletti@eui.eu.

European countries have undertaken a large number of regulatory reforms since the outburst of the financial crisis or are in the process of doing so. These reforms range from higher capital and liquidity requirements for banks, to size and activity restrictions and a banking union for the Eurozone. The latter seems to be the most significant reform in terms of the effects that it will have on the structure and the functioning of the banking industry in Europe.