Europe’s financial institutions and markets were center stage in the Euro Area crisis, and their reform has been a crucial part of addressing the crisis. The EU has come a long way, barely imaginable at the beginning of this decade. Meanwhile, since November 2014, the largest European banks (that is 4/5 of the Euro Area’s banking market) are supervised by a European authority, the Single Resolution Mechanism (SSM). Since 2015, major efforts are also directed at creating a common capital market – a Capital Markets Union. Has Europe drawn the right lessons? Does a more centralized regulation and supervision lead to a safer system? How can firms, retail clients, and the public at large profit from the new institutional set-up?
