Gibran Watfe
- 26 November 2025
- FINANCIAL STABILITY REVIEW - ARTICLEFinancial Stability Review Issue 2, 2025Details
- Abstract
- Trade turmoil in April 2025 saw a marked change in cross-asset behaviour compared with typical patterns. Notably, the US dollar depreciated strongly while US Treasury yields rose – the opposite of what usually happens in a risk-off environment. This prompted discussions as to whether the safe-haven properties of US dollar-denominated assets might be changing. This is particularly important for euro area financial stability since euro area investors hold US dollar-denominated securities in an amount equivalent to €6 trillion, which represents a significant share of their portfolios. As policy uncertainty remains high and alternative safe assets are scarce, investors’ risk management practices may be evolving. Immediate and decisive implementation of policies associated with the savings and investments union and the capital markets union would help foster an alternative market of safe assets for euro area and global investors.
- JEL Code
- G11 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→Portfolio Choice, Investment Decisions
G15 : Financial Economics→General Financial Markets→International Financial Markets
G23 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Non-bank Financial Institutions, Financial Instruments, Institutional Investors
F31 : International Economics→International Finance→Foreign Exchange
- 29 November 2018
- FINANCIAL STABILITY REVIEW - ARTICLEFinancial Stability Review Issue 2, 2018Details
- Abstract
- Over the last decade, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have grown at a fast pace both globally and in the euro area. ETFs typically offer low-cost diversified investment opportunities for investors. ETF shares can be bought and sold at short notice, making them efficient and flexible instruments for trading and hedging purposes. At the same time, the wider use of ETFs may also come with a growing potential for transmission and amplification of risks in the financial system. This special feature focuses on two such channels arising from (i) liquidity risk in ETF primary and secondary markets and (ii) counterparty risk in ETFs using derivatives and those engaging in securities lending. While ETFs still only account for a small fraction of investment fund asset holdings, their growth has been strong, suggesting a need for close monitoring from a financial stability and regulatory perspective, including prospective interactions with other parts of the financial system.
- 28 April 2017
- OCCASIONAL PAPER SERIES - No. 187Details
- Abstract
- In May 2016 the Governing Council adopted the AnaCredit Regulation ECB/2016/13) providing the legal basis for the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) to collect granular information on loans from banks to corporates and other legal persons based on a core set of harmonised concepts and definitions. Starting with reference data from September 2018, credit institutions in the euro area, and possibly elsewhere in the EU, will report to the ECB via the national central banks (NCBs) individual credit exposures falling within the reporting scope. The reporting framework is the outcome of in-depth discussions within the ESCB involving several rounds of consultations with users, the industry and other stakeholders. As set out in the Regulation, AnaCredit will, already in Stage 1, significantly enhance the value for analysis on credit and credit risk in the euro area by providing detailed, timely and harmonised information on individual exposures to legal entities as counterparts. The new data will be useful for several key tasks of the ESCB for a better analysis of credit distribution to the economy, e.g. for monetary policy analysis and operation (risk and collateral management), financial stability, economic research and statistics. The scope of the project might be further expanded in future stages to cover additional lenders, borrowers and instruments. The purpose of this paper is to reflect and illustrate the methodological work and process leading to the definition of the AnaCredit requirements that were eventually included in the Regulation.
- JEL Code
- E58 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Central Banks and Their Policies
G21 : Financial Economics→Financial Institutions and Services→Banks, Depository Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Mortgages
E51 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit→Money Supply, Credit, Money Multipliers
C81 : Mathematical and Quantitative Methods→Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology, Computer Programs→Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data, Data Access
E44 : Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics→Money and Interest Rates→Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy