Artikelen

Poor financial market returns and low long-term real interest rates in recent years have created challenges for the sponsors of defined benefit pension schemes. At the same time, lower payroll tax revenues in a period of high unemployment, and rising fiscal deficits in many advanced economies as economic activity has fallen, are also testing the sustainability of pay-as-you-go public pension scheme.

We critically review the state of the art in macro stress testing, assessing its strengths and weaknesses. We argue that, given current technology, macro stress tests are ill-suited as early warning devices, ie as tools  for  identifying vulnerabilities during  seemingly  tranquil times and for triggering remedial action. By contrast, as long as properly designed, stress tests can be quite effective as crisis management and resolution tools. We also see additional side benefits, stemming largely from the way such tests can discipline thinking about financial stability.

Het functioneren van accountants staat volop in de belangstelling. Er wordt veel gezegd en geschreven over de relevantie van het beroep en het functioneren van de beroepsgroep. De accountant heeft een geheimhoudingsplicht waardoor hij niet volledig inzicht kan geven in de invloed van zijn controle op de jaarrekening en op de gecontroleerde organisatie. Dit onderzoek beoogt deze invloed inzichtelijker te maken. Daarnaast gaat dit onderzoek in op de factoren die accountants in hun oordeelsvorming bij de jaarrekeningcontrole betrekken.

Bij meer dan een kwart (27%) van de Nederlandse bevolking is in 2011 het spaargeld afgenomen. 37% van deze groep zegt niet meer rond te kunnen komen zonder daarbij zijn of haar spaargeld aan te breken. Opvallend is dat van deze mensen 44% een HBO of WO opleiding genoten heeft en dat driekwart van deze hooggeschoolden €40.000,- euro per jaar of meer verdient. Dit blijkt uit onderzoek in opdracht van Friesland Bank onder 1000 Nederlanders.

We are publishing this report in a time fraught with uncertainty, with the european debt crisis in danger of creating a global wave of instability and dragging down global economic growth.This poses substantial challenges for banks, not least increasing credit risk, threatening the supply of funding and limiting opportunities for growth. In addition, there has been reduced bond and equity issuance, and subdued M&A activity.

Companies are seeking to squeeze the financial supply chain where possible, but further efficiency will only be reached if companies start to dig further into their wealth of supply chain data.

BaselIII establishes tougher capital standards through more restrictive capital definitions, higher risk-weighted assets (RWA), additional capital buffers, and higher requirements for minimum capital ratios. The reforms will fundamentally impact profitability and require transformationofthe business models of many banks.Thesereformswill also require banksto undertake significant process and system changesto achieve upgrades in the areas of stress testing, counterparty risk,and capital management infrastructure.

Balance sheets are more stable. Profitability is returning. Yet risk and uncertainty remain the defining features of the banking and wider financial services landscape.

The recent financial crisis has dramatically shown how banks, by modifying their behaviour in the credit market, may propagate and amplify the economic consequences of the turmoil. The public debate has been mainly focused on banks’ ability to lend enough money to households and firms in order to finance their consumption and investment activities. By contrast, less attention has been paid to the dynamic of the cost of bank lending in a severe financial crisis. This seems quite odd since the response of bank interest rates to systemic shocks is another channel through which banks may affect the level of economic activity.