This book compares the different expressions of, and outcomes from, banking nationalism in two European countries to draw wider conclusions about the consequences for Banking Union in Europe and to show how national governments deal (or fail to deal) with international commitments. It reveals how and why one case – Spain – managed to tackle failing banks within EU Banking Union regulations even before they became written in EU law, while the other – Italy – had more persistent problems. The book argues that Spain demonstrates a successful case of liberal economic nationalism, typified by aggressive, early state intervention to restructure Spanish banks, and help from the European Stability Mechanism even in the face of local political opposition. Italy, meanwhile, suffered from the weaker, delayed intervention which forced it to confront European institutions with demands for special treatment as a means of externalizing its own internal weakness. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and professionals in economic policy, Economic and Monetary Union and Banking Union in Europe, European and global governance, European/EU studies, European public policy, European public administration and EU law, as well as professionals working in the banking sector.

"This book compares the different expression of, and outcomes from, banking nationalism in two European countries to draw wider conclusions about the consequences for Banking Union in Europe and to show how national governments deal (or fail to deal) with international commitments. It reveals how and why one case - Spain - managed to tackle failing banks within EU Banking Union regulations even before they became written in EU law, while the other - Italy - had more persistent problems. The book argues that Spain demonstrates a successful case of liberal economic nationalism, typified by aggressive, early state intervention to restructure Spanish banks, and help from the European Stability Mechanism even in the face of local political opposition. Italy, meanwhile, suffered from weaker, delayed intervention which forced it to confront European institutions with demands for special treatment as a means of externalizing its own internal weakness. This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and professionals in economic policy, Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and Banking Union in Europe, European and global governance, European/EU studies, European public policy, European public administration, EU law, as well as professionals working in the banking sector"--

This book analyzes the dangers of financial nationalism in an interconnected global financial system, and discusses how international law might address them.

This handbook presents a timely collection of original studies on relevant themes, policies and developments in European banking. The contributors analyse how the crisis years have had a long lasting impact on the structure of European banking and explore the regulatory architecture that has started to take form in their wake. Academic experts and senior policy makers have contributed to this volume, which is organized in five main parts. The first part presents an overview of European banking through the crisis and beyond. The second part analyses performance and innovation in EU banking markets. The third part discusses the key regulatory changes aimed at fostering financial stability. Part four looks at the relevance of cross-border banking and part five presents a detailed analysis of the main EU banking markets. This is a highly informative and carefully presented handbook, which provides thought-provoking insights into the past, present and future landscapes of European banking. It will appeal to a wide readership, from scholars and students, through to researchers, practitioners and policy-makers.

This book investigates the role of banking interest groups and lobbying in the making of the European Banking Union. Facing the politicization of financial regulation in the wake of the crisis, core players of the European banking industry managed to adapt and re-orient their lobbying resources and strategies to influence the reform process. This work advances an original Critical IPE approach, which combines structural power, the collective agency of key socio-economic groups and the issue salience as critical determinants to explain corporate influence in policy-making. The explanatory framework is applied to a comprehensive analysis, tracing the Banking Union’s development within the broader context of the EU post-crisis banking regulation. An in-depth scrutiny of the interest groups’ preferences, coalitions and attainments is thus provided on the pillars of the Banking Union, covering banking supervision, resolution, deposit insurance, as well as the reform of the banks’ prudential requirements and the failed project of an EU banking structural reform.

Crises and Integration in European Banking Union builds a theory of how the combination of crisis severity and origin indicates whether a crisis will produce deep reform, modest reform, or a persistence of the pre-crisis status quo.

The establishment of Banking Union represents a major development in European economic governance and European integration history more generally. Banking Union is also significant because not all European Union (EU) member states have joined, which has increased the trend towards differentiated integration in the EU, posing a major challenge to the EU as a whole and to the opt-out countries. This book is informed by two main empirical questions. Why was Banking Union - presented by proponents as a crucial move to 'complete' Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - proposed only in 2012, over twenty years after the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty? Why has a certain design for Banking Union been agreed and some elements of this design prioritized over others? A two-step explanation is articulated in this study. First, it explains why euro area member state governments moved to consider Banking Union by building on the concept of the 'financial trilemma', and examining the implications of the single currency for euro area member state banking systems. Second, it explains the design of Banking Union by examining the preferences of member state governments on the core components of Banking Union and developing a comparative political economy analysis focused on the configuration of national banking systems and varying national concern for the moral hazard facing banks and sovereigns created by euro level support mechanisms.

The Difficult Construction of European Banking Union examines the political, legal and economic issues surrounding the lacunae and design faults of European Banking Union and its problematic operation. The volume brings together the work of sixteen scholars focused on the diverse debates surrounding the construction and operation of Banking Union (BU), and its necessary reform. BU represents one of the most important developments in European integration since the launch of Monetary Union. Furthermore, the design of the BU agreed between 2012 and 2014 was a messy compromise among EU member states. It is not surprising then that BU has sparked a lively academic debate and triggered an ever-growing number of publications from different disciplinary backgrounds. The first wave of academic work on BU focuses upon the economic rationale underpinning the supranationalisation of control over banking — regulation, supervision, support and resolution — and the political dynamics and legal issues that shaped the design of the Union agreed. This volume is located at the intersection of this first phase of academic research and a second stage which analyses the functioning of the different elements of BU. New research questions are triggered by the albeit limited empirical evidence on BU’s implementation and operation. Contributions to this second wave of research attempt to identify potentially dangerous lacunae and contribute to on-going reform debates. The Difficult Construction of European Banking Union will be of great interest to scholars of the European Union, Banking, Economic Governance, and Political Economy. Most of the chapters were originally published as three special issues in the Journal of Economic Policy Reform.

In 2012, at the height of the sovereign debt crisis, European decision makers pushed for developing an 'ever closer union' with the formation of a European Banking Union (BU). Although it provoked widespread debate, to date there has been no coherent discussion of the political and constitutional dimensions of the European Banking Union. This important new publication fills this gap. Drawing on the expertise of recognised experts in the field, it explores banking union from legal, economic and political perspectives. It takes a four-part approach. Firstly, it sets the scene by examining the constitutional foundations of banking union. Then in parts 2 and 3, it looks at the implications of banking union for European integration and for democracy. Finally it asks whether banking union might be more usefully regarded as a trade-off between integration and democracy. This is an important, timely and authoritative collection.

How was the Banking Union, the most advanced legal and institutional integration in the single market, created? How does European law impact European integration? To answer these questions, this book provides a sweeping account of the evolution of European law. It identifies five integration periods of the single financial market, intertwined with the development of global finance, from its origins, through its expansion and crisis, to the Banking Union. Each period is defined by innovations to deepen integration, such as the single passport for financial services, soft governance and comitology, agencies, or a single rulebook. Providing a far-reaching explanation of the legal and institutional rationality of the European Banking Union, this book demonstrates that the Banking Union is not an accident of history or simply the product of the existential crisis of the Monetary Union. It has deep roots in the evolutionary process of European law and its drive towards supranational integration.