Go to the Content Friday, 24 May 2013

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Articles in this set

Twenty years of joining the dots
The financial crisis has put great strain on the single market, but that has not stopped EU leaders pledging to push it towards completion.
Twelve steps to success?
The European Commission has come up with 12 ways to advance the single market.
MEPs aim to put the emphasis on citizens and businesses
Chairman of the Parliament's internal market and consumer protection committee on how the single market should progress.
State aid remains in crisis mode
EU state-aid rules have changed rapidly over the past few years, and more change is on the way.
Closer economic integration causes concern for Cameron
The British prime minister fears that a two-tier EU could damage the single market.
What odds on EU-wide gambling rules?
Online gambling is big business, and pressure is building for EU legislation.
The EU's low-speed price convergence
In theory, the single market should bring customers price convergence across the EU, but price differences persist between the north and south, and within countries.
Cross-border banking in the balance
Europe's integration of the banking systems of central and eastern Europe has been hugely beneficial – and is now at risk.

European single market

Next year is the 20th anniversary of the creation of the EU's single market, and EU policymakers would like to mark the occasion by closing some of the gaps.

Cross-border banking in the balance

By Erik Berglof - 24.11.2011 / 04:22 CET

Europe's integration of the banking systems of central and eastern Europe has been hugely beneficial – and is now at risk.

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Exposure fears for Austrian banks

The Austrian banking supervisory authority and the Austrian national bank issued new guidelines for Austrian banks investing in central and eastern Europe on 21 November. The guidelines are designed to prevent Austrian banks, some of the biggest investors in the region's banking sector, from overexposing themselves to risk.

Subsidiaries of Austrian banks will have to limit the ratio of new loans to local financing (ie, local deposits and international financing) to 110%. The guidelines are a response to fears that the Austrian government would have insufficient resources to bail out its biggest banks if they got into difficulty because of their exposure in central and eastern Europe.

Erste Group Bank, Raiffeisen Bank International and Hypo Alpe-Adria-Bank International had lent more than €197 billion to businesses and households in the region by the end of June, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The biggest borrowers are the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. The total assets of Austrian banks were €1.14 trillion at the end of June, according to the country's central bank.