Nicolas Véron

Global Accounting Convergence: A Race to the Bottom?

I forgot last month to post this piece, published in the Accountancy Column of the Financial Times. Just before the Pittsburgh Summit of the G20, I looked at convergence between the two main remaining systems of accounting standards (IFRS and US GAAP), and conclude that the current convergence process is becoming increasingly dysfonctional.

Click here to download the piece, which correctly predicted that a reaffirmation of the convergence goal would be the main thing the G20 leaders would have to say about accounting in Pittsburgh.

The EU and Financial Regulatory Reform

This month, Financial World, the City of London's monthly magazine published by the ifs School of Finance and produced by CSFI, has commissioned five articles on what will change in financial regulation as a consequence of the crisis.

Click here to download my piece, the first of the series. I argue that the EU has lost the opportunity it had last year to take the lead in defining the new regulatory framework, but that it is probably making progress in fixing its own institutional gaps.

FT Comment Piece on European Bank Treuhand

This morning the Financial Times published a comment piece by Adam Posen and myself, in which we briefly outline the proposal of our policy brief 'A Solution for Europe's Banking problem', that a number of European states should jointly create a trustee to manage the triage, restructuring and resolution processes that are indispensible to heal the European banking system.

Click here to download the piece if the above link does not work.

A 'Treuhand' To Solve Europe's Banking Problem

 

In a new Bruegel Policy Brief co-authored with Adam Posen, we describe 'Europe's banking problem' as a high reliance of the European economy on a badly damaged banking system. History confirms the only way to solve it is 'triage', i.e. differentiation among banks on the basis of their actual capital position assessed through a consistent process and publicly disclosed, then restructuring of those banks which would not subsequently succeed to meet their capital needs.

But in continental Europe, advanced cross-border integration means that triage and restructuring cannot be effective if conducted only at national level. As no existing supranational institutions can realistically do the job, we advocate the creation of a temporary fiduciary agency or 'Bank Treuhand' by a critical mass of European countries. The Treuhand would assess major banks' balance sheets and publish triage results, catalyse restructurings by being a broker for negotiation among national governments, and manage distressed assets that would be brought into public ownership as the result. It would also buy time, and pave the way, for the longer-term task of reforming the EU's supervisory architecture in order to make cross-border banking sustainable.

Click here to download and read the Policy Brief as published by Bruegel (only in English).

Click here to read the piece as published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics on 16 June 2009.

European Commission Hamstrung by Lack of Vision

In this piece for the E!Sharp website, I argue that the European Commission is not so much to blame for its decisions (or lack thereof) since the start of the crisis, than it is at fault for not providing a vision of Europe's financial system to other policymakers and the public. The lack of long-term direction is a particularly severe shortcoming in a time of turmoil, which creates so many opportunities for policy mistakes.

IFRS Stress Test - in Vox

Vox, the economics debating website, has published an updated English version of my piece of last Monday in La Tribune.

Click here to download the piece in case the above link is broken.

Taming the US Oligarchs

In this new post for the National Journal's Economy Blog, I comment Simon Johnson's widely-read piece in the Atlantic in which he compares the US situation with many emerging countries' "crony capitalism". While I essentially agree with Johnson's assessment, I also bring some qualifications.

Click here in case the above link does not work - but the blog version is better as it also includes other participants' views.

An assessment of the London Summit

In this post on the National Journal's economy expert blog, I look at last week's London summit and try to compare what it achieved with what it could realistically be expected to. This leads me to a fairly positive assessment.

Click here if the above link does not work - but the online version is better.

Re-Examining Capitalism

In this post for the National Journal's economic blog, I look at whether capitalism is put into question by the crisis. I argue that it capitalism cannot become 'moral' or revert to past forms, and that it will continue being transformed by technology-induced trends which were largely present before the crisis started.

Download NationalJournal_170309 in case the above link does not function - but the online version is better.

Financing Innovative Firms in the Crisis - Box in CER Lisbon Scorecard

Every year since 2001, the Centre for European Reform publishes a Lisbon Scorecard report to assess advancement of the European Union's much-derided Lisbon Strategy. In the Lisbon Scorecard IX published in late February, CER published a short box in which I update the lessons of last year's Policy Brief 'Financing Europe's Fast Movers' co-authored with Thomas Philippon.

Download CER_LisbonScorecard_2009 to read my short text. The full report is accessible here.