Klaus Regling was appointed chief executive officer of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) on 1 July. The €440 billion facility is based in Luxembourg and its board comprises representatives from the 16 euro-area governments. From 2001 to 2008 Mr. Regling was the Director-General of ECFIN.

A second EU-wide stress test exercise has confirmed the overall resilience of the EU banking system. Nonetheless, bank capital and liquidity requirements will be increased and the Commission will propose further reforms in the areas of crisis management, derivatives and short-selling.

A joint EC/IMF/ECB first review mission under the Economic Adjustment Programme visited Athens from 26 July to 5 August 2010. The report by European Commission staff provides a detailed assessment of compliance, an overview of challenges faced by Greece and a summary of the main findings of the mission.

Published in September 2010, The payment system - payments, securities and derivatives, and the role of the Eurosystem is a comprehensive 370-page book that provides insight into the handling of financial transactions, the functioning of financial market infrastructure, and the role of the Eurosystem.

The ECB has announced that it will extend support measures for the banking sector until at least the start of next year. The measures include providing unlimited loans to the banking sector at fixed interest rates, and providing loans with a longer duration than normally available.

Meeting on 2 September, the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 1.00%, 1.75% and 0.25% respectively.

The 27 Member States of the EU, the European Parliament and the European Commission have reached agreement on the principles relating to the creation of a new architecture for European financial regulation. The architecture agreed is for a new European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs).

At their meeting on 7 September, EU finance ministers exchanged of views on the coordination of levies on banks and other financial institutions as part of a new crisis management framework at EU level for the financial industry. In the wake of the financial crisis, a number of countries have introduced levies on banks or are in the process of doing so, though the nature of those levies differs from one country to another.

Traders who sell complex financial products, like credit default swaps, will face increased transparency standards if European regulators investigating high-frequency trading get their way. In a paper released on 29 July, the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) made a set of recommendations aiming to expose trades that are based on momentary differences in prices.

The unprecedented EUR 110 billion financial support to Greece is based on strict conditions, a comprehensive programme of reforms and continuous monitoring. Ultimately, the Greek economy will recover as of 2012, the deficit will return to sustainable levels while the government debt ratio will fall from 2014 on.

On 17 June, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, presented the first progress report of the Task Force on Economic Governance which he chairs. The report is based on four main objectives: reaching greater budgetary discipline through the Stability and Growth Pact, reducing competitiveness divergences, establishing an effective crisis mechanism and strengthening institutional cooperation and coordination.

On 24 February the Commission and the EIB welcomed a report on the EIB’s external financing activity by a committee of ‘wise persons’chaired by former IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus.

The seminar, held on 12 March, looked at competitiveness, labour market and financial market issues.

At its meeting in October 2009, the European Council agreed on the need for a coordinated exit from fiscal stimulus policies and for fiscal consolidation.

The European Local Energy Assistance (ELENA) facility, launched on 15 December, will help local authorities invest in energy efficiency, renewables and sustainable urban transport.

Complete recovery of the real economy depends on restoring the financial system to full health.

On 23 September, ahead of the G20 Pittsburgh summit, the Commission formally adopted a proposal to create a central system of financial market supervision.

At the Eurofi financial forum, key decision makers from industry and government, including Commissioner Joaquín Almunia, Jacques de Larosière, Jean-Claude Trichet and many others, discussed initiatives for restoring confidence, preventing future crisis and improving the security and efficiency of financial services in Europe.

European Union crisis funding is available to Member States in distress. Such is the severity of the financial whirlwind that has hit the Continent ...

Three SME Finance Days took place this spring, most recently in Sofia on 28 May, following earlier events in Vienna on 10 March and in Madrid on 23 February ...

The European Parliament adopted tougher bank capital rules on 6 May. The new rules are designed to restore confidence to markets shaken by the financial crisis ...

The euro hit its highest level against the dollar for a month on 7 May, after the European Central Bank (ECB) cut its main interest rate ...

Commissioner Almunia topped a prestigious list of speakers at the SME Finance Day held at the EU Representation in Madrid on 23 February, where the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) financial instruments were explained ...

On 25 March, the EU announced a €5 billion support package for Romania to help relieve pressure on its economy owing to the financial crisis. The aid is supplied as medium-term financial assistance to support Romania’s ...

DG ECFIN has created an on-line collection of Communications, press releases, press packs and documents relevant to the ongoing economic crisis. Arranged chronologically, the collection is focused on international and EU-level policy ...

Together with the Directorate-General for Enterprise, DG ECFIN is launching a series of ‘EU Finance Day for SMEs’ information events to be held in all Union Member State capital cities in 2008-2009. There are over 23 million ...

At a one-day workshop organised by DG ECFIN on 27 November 2006 participants considered ‘The future of corporate financing in an integrating EU financial market’. Researchers, policy-makers and market representatives explored ...

Since the Rose Revolution (November 2003), Georgia has emerged as a top reformer in the CIS region. DG ECFIN has supported this reform process through close contacts with the Georgian authorities, leading to the launching of the EC’s ...

21 November 2005 - In a home-owning society such as Europe, the huge amounts of money and wealth tied up in housing and mortgages make these markets important for the whole EU economy. At a workshop on ‘Housing and mortgage markets and the EU economy’ ...

October 2005 - A recent Eurobarometer survey asked over 3 000 SME business managers whether they could get bank loans when they needed them. An important issue, considering that, overall, SMEs are by far the largest business employers in the EU and ...

27 October 2005 - ‘The Lisbon Strategy – closing the gap’ was the title of the annual forum of the European Investment Bank held in the Finnish capital. The EIB is taking on an increasing role in funding European R&D in addition ...