Capital Markets Union [What Think Tanks are thinking]

Written by Marcin Cesluk-Grajewski

On 18 February, the European Commission unveiled further details of its proposed Capital Markets Union (CMU), its flagship plan to strengthen the economy of the euro area and the European Union by making it easier for companies to raise money on stock and bond markets.

Publishing a Green Paper, the Commission launched a public consultation on its project to forge a truly single market for capital. It aims, among other things, at standardising prospectuses that companies publish to issue stocks and bonds, making it easier for investors to get credit information on small companies asking for cash, and facilitating securitisation, that is, pooling together various types of debt to create a new class of high-quality asset-backed financial instruments.

This note highlights a selection of recent studies, reports and commentaries by some of the major international think tanks and research institutes that analyse the question of the CMU.

Capital markets union in Europe: initial impressions Brookings Institution, February 23, 2015

Europe’s proposed capital markets union: Disruption will drive investment and innovation

VoxEU (CEPR), February 23, 2015

EU releases blueprint on capital markets union to unlock funding for growth

Science/Business, February 19, 2015

Which Union for Europe’s capital markets? Centre for European Policy Studies, February 13, 2015

Capital Markets Union – good idea, bad name Open Europe, February 18, 2015

Unlocking Europe’s capital markets union Centre for European Reform, October 15, 2014

Capital markets union: be careful what you wish for… NewFinancial, November 24, 2014

Defining Europe’s capital markets union Bruegel, November 13, 2014

Crowdfunding: broadening Europe’s capital markets Bruegel, October 10, 2014

Asset-backed securities: The key to unlocking Europe’s credit markets? Bruegel, July 24, 2014