The financial crisis has led to a far-reaching redesign of the European regulatory and supervisory framework. Following the commitments made in the context of the G-20, but also reacting to internal shortcomings, the EU engaged in a massive program to re-regulate financial markets. The EU furthermore redesigned the structure for supervisory cooperation, initially through the European Supervisory Authorities, and later in its ambition to form the Banking Union. In The Great Financial Plumbing, Karel Lannoo systematically assesses the new regulatory and supervisory framework. The book’s structure follows the big questions on the agenda: 1) What is Banking Union? 2) How have the concerns of the G-20 been addressed by the EU (oversight of credit-rating agencies, better capital for banks, the re-regulation of securities and derivatives markets, asset management, depositor protection and bank resolution)? 3) How were uniquely EU rules on state aid applied to the banking sector? This book is designed to give professionals, policy-makers and students a better understanding of the new regulatory framework and insights into the policy context that has led to the new rules governing financial markets in Europe.

Tax competition in the form of harmful tax practices can distort trade and investment patterns, erode national tax bases and shift part of the tax burden onto less mobile tax bases. The Report emphasises that governments must intensify their cooperative actions to curb harmful tax practices.