Banking and capital markets
While the world was saved from financial instability during the pandemic, new developments in the European Union’s financial system are emerging.
Completion of the banking union and integration of the EU’s capital markets remain central to completing the EU’s economic and monetary union. Bruegel’s researchers monitor developments in the financial sector, evaluate public policy responses and make recommendations.
Under the 2025-2026 research programme, Bruegel fellows focus on sustainable finance and the future of investment, the future of the international economic order and structural national reform.
Recently published and updated
Remunerating means of payment
Non-remuneration of digital money acts as a distortionary tax, making EU bans on interest for e-money and stablecoins hard to defend
Green finance or financing green? Bridging the EU’s sustainable-finance and capital-market architectures
Calls for EU financial-rule simplification should not spill over into lower standards
EU banking rules are under pressure for simplification, but reforms should cut complexity without weakening financial safeguards
European Union capital requirements on megabanks: the low road or the high road
EU megabanks are not facing crippling US competitive pressure, making fragmentation, regulatory complexity and crisis response the real priorities
Double materiality doubles the work
Researchers
Ravi Balakrishnan
Bruegel Non-resident Fellow
Jesper Berg
Bruegel Non-resident Fellow
Rebecca Christie
Bruegel Senior Fellow
Hans Geeroms
Bruegel Non-resident Fellow
Ivo Maes
Bruegel Non-resident Fellow
Events
Priorities and trade-offs for the next round of EU banking reform
What should be the aims of EU banking reform?
Will new live market data publication change Europe’s capital markets?
Join this event of the Finance Focus series with Nicolas Veron and Eglantine Desautel
Talks@Bruegel: Ukraine’s funding equation with Vladyslav Rashkovan
How is the €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan being implemented, including its policy conditionality,and what will follow once it is fully used in 2027?
Podcasts
What’s threatening financial stability?
Dutch Central Bank chief Olaf Sleijpen and Jeromin Zettelmeyer on risks, rates and responses
Europe’s new anti-money laundering agency
How will AMLA help the EU crack down on financial crime?
Future-proofing and creative destruction
How EU sustainable finance can find a way forward
Understanding money in the EU
How do citizens keep track of their finances and investments, and how can the European Commission help?