The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed, up-to-date and critical analysis of the New Basel Capital Accord framework. It focuses on the limitations and pitfalls that may deserve further investigation, particularly at the European level. Moreover, it provides a provisional assessment of its effects on small- and medium-sized European banks, as well as small- and medium-sized European enterprises. It examines the procyclicality of the new Accord and offers mechanisms to counter it. Finally, it addresses the challenges of implementing the new rules at the EU level.

This book explores the past and future of central bank cooperation. In today's global economy, the cooperation between central banks is a key element in maintaining or restoring monetary and financial stability, thereby ensuring a smooth functioning of the international financial system. Or is it? In this book, economists, historians, and political scientists look back at the experience of central bank cooperation during the past century - at its goals, nature, and processes and at its successes and failures - and draw lessons for the future. Particular attention is devoted to the role played by central bank cooperation in the formulation of minimum capital standards for internationally active banks (the Basel Capital Accord, Basel II), and in the process of European monetary unification and the introduction of the euro.

European Financial Systems in the Global Economy provides an overview of sources of finance, types of financial intermediation and financial systems in Europe and their relative importance in the world economy. It describes market mechanisms and prices and gives a broad introduction to the relevant regional financial and monetary issues (including those countries that will join the EU in the future) and makes an ideal primer for those new to the world of finance.