TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Don’t change horses in midstream – How to make NGEU bonds the euro area’s safe asset N2 - The bonds financing the European Union’s recovery remain short of being the much-hoped-for safe asset of EU monetary union (EMU). However, with the right reforms they could well turn out to be just that. To earn safe asset status, the volume of EU debt should increase, EU borrowing made permanent, and the ECB treat supranational EU bonds in a more favourable manner. The flaws associated with failing to be a eurozone-only instrument are offset by remarkable fiscal and democratic benefits. So, if the NextGenerationEU (NGEU) pilot project – limited in time and tailored specifically to fighting the coronavirus pandemic – turns out to be to everybody’s benefit, then member states should seize the opportunity and extend it before debt is repaid as of 2028. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-42361 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/safe-asset ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Big tech: Closing the blind spot in Europe's financial market rules N2 - The technology giants Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft are on the rise, recently also in the financial services business. This poses new challenges not only for competition regulators and consumer protection agencies, but also for financial market supervisors. The European financial market rules have a blind spot with regard to big tech and this endangers financial market stability. To prevent technology giants from flying under the radar of financial supervision, Sebastian Mack argues in this policy position for making group supervision of financial conglomerates fit for the digital age. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-42377 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/big-tech ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Beyond Wirecard - All of Europe needs independent financial supervisors N2 - Financial supervisory authorities in the EU are not sufficiently independent of political and economic influence. As the financial scandal surrounding Wirecard shows, this entails the risks of conflicts of interest that undermine the integrity of the European financial system and harm the goal of an integrated banking and capital markets union. That is why in his Policy Brief, Sebastian Mack proposes European-wide requirements for the independence, accountability and transparency of national financial regulators. Ten years after the establishment of the European System of Financial Supervision, it is high time to regulate the governance of national supervisory authorities across Europe and thereby strengthen financial supervision throughout the EU. Y1 - 2021 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/beyond-wirecard ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Don't throw it under the Omnibus: The EU needs to make sustainability reporting more effective N2 - The Sustainability Omnibus marks the first in a series of European Commission initiatives aimed at simplifying EU regulation and significantly cutting red tape for businesses. Given inconsistencies, overlaps, and complexities in the existing framework, streamlining sustainable finance rules can enhance their effectiveness in supporting a transparent and sustainable economy. However, the sweeping changes proposed by the Commission are unlikely to ease administrative burdens meaningfully. Instead, they risk hampering green investment and weakening measures to manage climate-related risks. To ensure that a streamlined set of rules delivers real added value for European competitiveness, climate action and financial stability, this Policy Brief calls on EU co-legislators to make targeted adjustments that preserve the integrity of the sustainable finance framework and tighten enforcement. Y1 - 2025 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/dont-throw-it-under-the-omnibus ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Out of the Dark - An EU Asset Register to Combat Illicit Financial Flows N2 - The challenges of enforcing sanctions against Russian oligarchs have brought the problem of financial secrecy to the fore. Governments in the EU lack the information necessary to identify, locate and freeze the assets of Vladimir Putin‘s entourage. What is missing is an EU-wide asset register that would not only shed light on the wealth of sanctioned individuals, but also help in Europe‘s fight against financial crime. This policy brief outlines the steps needed to build an interconnected EU asset register based on existing data collection requirements. Such a register could be practically implemented in the context of the ongoing overhaul of the EU anti-money laundering legislation. KW - Wealth Secrecy, Sanctions, Financial Crime Y1 - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-45237 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/eu-asset-register ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Give us the tools and we‘ll finish the job: How Europe can fix the broken audit market N2 - The European audit market has been broken for far too long. After glaring audit failures in the recent past, the legislation is once more under review. Fixing the persistent shortcomings will require serious reforms in three areas. To increase competition and rein in the dominant position of the Big Four, joint audits including at least one challenger firm should become mandatory. Auditors should be prohibited from providing their audit clients with consulting services to eliminate conflicts of interest. And the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) should directly supervise the biggest audit firms to ensure effective oversight. With bold and binding tools, European decision-makers can finish the job and finally turn the EU audit market around. KW - Auditing KW - Big 4 KW - Competition Y1 - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-45330 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/eu-audit-market?Array=&cHash=4054a8a5584f855ac88367fc1890b875 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - The EU must not procrastinate on urgent audit market reforms N2 - After the Wirecard accounting scandal, the EU Commission promised to reform the rules for auditors. Now it must finally present them: The problems are clear and there are plenty of proposed solutions. Y1 - 2022 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/urgent-audit-reforms ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Get your priorities right – Europe must not underestimate the role of banks for the green transition N2 - EU policymakers and the financial sector have placed high hopes in forging a green capital markets union. However, the idea that capital markets could swiftly close the green investment gap ignores underlying financing structures. In Europe, the areas with the biggest funding needs rely on bank loans rather than financial markets and the recent banking turmoil is unlikely to change this. The reliance on banks will not abate any time soon as EU governments are dragging their heels on completing the capital markets union despite repeated promises. Since banks will largely finance the European green deal, the EU should step up its efforts to green the banking system and systematically make climate risks a core element of banking supervision, prudential regulation, and monetary policy. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/banks-role-for-green-transition ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian A1 - Findeisen, Francesco T1 - Do more with more – How the EU can improve funding for the European Green Deal N2 - Funding remains the Achilles heel of the EU Green Deal. Europe needs to spend an additional €350 billion on climate action every year until the end of this decade. The bulk of sustainable investment is expected to come from the private sector and the InvestEU programme has been established to leverage private investment through the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and other public financial institutions. However, overly ambitious target volumes backed by only limited public financial support, and the resultant high levels of leverage, prevent InvestEU from delivering its full potential for achieving the green transition. To plug the green investment gap, InvestEU needs to reduce its leverage, increase its transparency on intermediated operations and be complemented by fresh public spending at EU level to finance transformative investments that fall outside the scope of what public de-risking of private investments can achieve. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/european-green-deal-funding ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Show greenwashing the red card. How Europe can make sustainable finance work N2 - What Europe needs is not a regulatory pause, but better legislation. In record time, the EU has rolled out a comprehensive disclosure regime for sustainable finance. But the nascent regulatory framework is challenging to implement, remains vulnerable to abuse by those seeking to game the system and fails to provide meaningful guidance to investors. Despite detailed legislation, financial market participants differ significantly in their expectations of sustainable investment products and face the risk of greenwashing, where issuers - intentionally or unintentionally - make misleading sustainability claims. To enable private investment to finance Europe’s transition to net zero, this policy brief proposes short-term measures to combat greenwashing plus reforms that should be adopted once the next European Commission has assumed office. For the EU to uphold its status as a global benchmark for sustainable finance, lawmakers and regulators must urgently improve the rules in place and ensure that they are applied consistently across member states. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/make-sustainable-finance-work ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Lindner, Johannes A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Europe must improve the quality of its regulation N2 - The EU is discussing better regulation. The issue is urgent. Nothing less than the competitiveness of European companies and the acceptance of the EU are at stake. But beware – neither symbolic politics nor broad deregulation will help. Instead: here are four concrete measures that could substantially improve the quality of EU regulation. Y1 - 2023 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/quality-of-regulation ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Better green than sorry – Why the prudential framework for insurers should integrate systemic climate risks N2 - Climate change poses systemic risks to insurers and the broader financial system, yet the EU’s prudential framework for insurers remains ill-equipped to deal with these. While recent regulatory revisions have introduced some climate-related requirements, these fall short of a systemic approach. This policy brief calls for integrating systemic climate risks across the full range of insurers’ underwriting and investment activities and puts forward concrete actions to that end. The upcoming review of the EU’s macro-prudential framework for non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI) opens an unmissable window of opportunity to align insurers’ prudential policy with climate objectives and safeguard financial stability in an era of escalating climate risk. Y1 - 2025 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/better-green-than-sorry ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Mack, Sebastian T1 - Handle with care – How Europe can reap the benefits of securitisation N2 - Provided it is sufficiently regulated, securitisation can help to fund the economy and share risks within the monetary union. Securitisation combines the advantages of banks in lending and of financial markets in financing. However, a lack of standardisation and legal harmonisation currently prevents the EU from reaping the benefits of this instrument. Weakening the prudential framework will not create a truly European market but may pose new risks to financial stability. Instead, this Policy Brief argues that to scale up securitisation, overcoming the fragmentation in national contract and insolvency laws in the longer term will be key. In the meantime, the European Commission should cut unnecessary red tape and establish an EU-wide standardised securitisation product tailored to an asset class that shows sustainable growth potential. Renovation loans are a promising option. Y1 - 2024 UR - https://www.delorscentre.eu/en/publications/detail/publication/handle-with-care-securitisation ER -