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Libra – a global virtual currency project initiated by Facebook – has been the subject of many controversial discussions since its announcement in June 2019. This paper provides a differentiated view on Libra, recognising that different development scenarios of Libra are conceivable.
Libra could serve purely as an alternative payment system in combination with a dedicated payment token, the Libra coin. Alternatively, the Libra project could develop into a broader financial infrastructure for advanced financial services such as savings and loan products operating on the Libra blockchain. Based on a comparison of the Libra architecture with other cryptocurrencies, the opportunities and challenges for the development of the respective Libra ecosystems are investigated form a commercial, regulatory and monetary policy perspective.
The importance of agile methods has increased in recent years, not only to manage software development processes but also to establish flexible and adaptive organisational structures, which are essential to deal with disruptive changes and build successful digital business strategies. This paper takes an industry-specific perspective by analysing the dissemination, objectives and relative popularity of agile frameworks in the German banking sector. The data provides insights into expectations and experiences associated with agile methods and indicates possible implementation hurdles and success factors. Our research provides the first comprehensive analysis of agile methods in the German banking sector. The comparison with a selected number of fintechs has revealed some differences between banks and fintechs. We found that almost all banks and fintechs apply agile methods in IT-related projects. However, fintechs have relatively more experience with agile methods than banks and use them more intensively. Scrum is the most relevant framework used in practice. Scaled agile frameworks are so far negligible in the German banking sector. Acceleration of projects is apparently the most important objective of deploying agile methods. In addition, agile methods can contribute to cost savings and lead to improved quality and innovation performance, though for banks it is evidently more challenging to reach their respective targets than for fintechs. Overall our findings suggest that German banks are still in a maturing process of becoming more agile and that there is room for an accelerated adoption of agile methods in general and scaled agile frameworks in particular.
The financial sector plays an important role in financing the green transformation of the European economy. A critical assessment of the current regulatory framework for sustainable finance in Europe leads to ambiguous results. Although the level of transparency on ESG aspects of financial products has been significantly improved, it is questionable whether the complex, mainly disclosure-oriented architecture is sufficient to mobilise more private capital into sustainable investments. It should be discussed whether a minimum Taxonomy ratio or Green Asset Ratio has to be fulfilled to market a financial product as “green”. Furthermore, because of the high complexity of the regulation, it could be helpful for the understanding of private investors to establish a simplified green rating, based on the Taxonomy ratio, to facilitate the selection of green financial products.
In the aftermath of the Wirecard scandal the German lead stock market index DAX has undergone a series of reforms, including the introduction of a profitability criterion based on EBITDA for new DAX members and enhanced financial reporting requirements with specified sanctions for non-compliance. Furthermore, DAX members need to adhere to certain provisions in the German Corporate Governance Code relating to audit committees. The final step of the reform was implemented in September 2021: the extension of the DAX from 30 to 40 constituents, with the ranking based solely on the free float market capitalisation. After one year of experience with the new design of the DAX, this paper concludes that the reform has strengthened the DAX in terms of diversification, quality and adaptability. However, there is still room for further improvement by introducing a minimum ESG score for DAX companies and thus making sustainability a relevant factor in the selection process. In addition, full compliance with the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code should be a condition for DAX companies. Furthermore, the profitability criterion should be applied on a continuous basis to ensure that loss-making companies can be excluded from the DAX after a grace period.
The financial sector plays an important role in financing the green transformation. Various regulatory initiatives in the EU aim to improve transparency in relation to the sustainability of financial products and the sustainability of economic activities of non-financial and financial undertakings. For credit institutions, the Green Asset Ratio (GAR) has been established by the European regulatory authorities as a KPI for measuring the proportion of Taxonomy-aligned on-balance-sheet exposure in relation to the total assets. The breakdown of the total GAR by type of counterparty, environmental objective and type of asset provides in-depth information about the sustainability profile of a credit institution. This information, which has not been available to date, may also initiate discussions between management and shareholders or other stakeholders regarding the future sustainability strategy of credit institutions. This paper provides an overview of the regulatory background and the method of calculating the GAR along different dimensions. Finally, the potential benefits and limitations of the GAR are discussed.
Digital platforms have become an important part of the digital economy by facilitating transactions between large numbers of users and by fostering innovation on collaborative platforms. In combination with technical platform services, some platform operators have managed to create powerful ecosystems that create network externalities and benefit from economies of scale and economies of scope. It is striking that, due to the specific economic drivers of the digital infrastructure, platform-based or platform-related services are dominated by a select number of global players. Most of the global platform operators are headquartered in the US, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta and Microsoft, also known as the “Big 5”. Some are located in Asia (e.g. Alibaba, Tencent). In Europe there are only a limited number of platform operators with a small market share.
Much research has been conducted on the emergence and characteristics of platforms, network externalities and platform competition. However, there has been very little research on whether or not one can idķentify common features that might explain the success of Big Tech. The following article focuses on an analysis of the Big 5 based on their strategies and development paths. The comparison reveals certain commonalities, from which several conclusions can be drawn regarding the success factors of the Big 5. These insights could be helpful for business decision-makers when shaping digital strategies. But also policy makers, especially in Europe, could benefit from these lessons learned to improve the European technology ecosystem.
A key technology driving the digital transformation of the economy is artificial intelligence (AI). It has gained a high degree of public attention with the initial release of the chatbot ChatGPT, which demonstrates the potential of generative AI (GAI) as a relatively new segment within AI. It is widely expected that GAI will shape the future of many industries and society in the coming years. This article provides a brief overview of the foundations of generative AI (“GAI”) including machine learning and what distinguishes it from other fields of AI. Furthermore, we look at important players in this emerging market, possible use cases and the expected economic potential as of today. It is apparent that, once again, a few US-based Big Tech firms are about to dominate this emerging technology and that the European tech sector is falling further behind. Finally, we conclude that the recently adopted Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Service Act (DSA) as well as the upcoming AI Act should be reviewed to ensure that the regulatory framework of European digital markets keeps up with the accelerated development of AI.
The “European Green Deal” stipulates that the EU will become climate-neutral by 2050. This transformation requires enormous investments in all major sectors including energy, mobility, industrial manufacturing, real estate and farming. Although the EU Commission has announced that a total of EUR 1 trillion will be invested into the green transformation of the European economy over the next ten years, the majority of the investments must be financed by the private sector. Alongside many factors affecting a successful implementation of the Green Deal, a regulatory framework for the financial industry has to be established to facilitate the financing of sustainable investments. To that end, the European Sustainable Finance Strategy lays the foundation for a complex set of different measures that have been launched in recent years. This article provides a comprehensive overview of key regulatory initiatives such as the taxonomy regulation, the disclosure frameworks for both corporates and financial institutions and other aspects of financial market regulation that have already significantly improved the regulatory framework for sustainable finance. Nevertheless, some additional instruments could be considered, such as a reform of top management remuneration or the provision of tax incentives for green investments in the real economy, and these are briefly discussed.
Die Distributed Ledger- bzw. Blockchain-Technologie führt zu einer zunehmenden Dezentralisierung von Finanzdienstleistungen („Decentralised Finance“), die weitgehend ohne die Einschaltung von Finanzintermediären angeboten werden können. Dazu trägt wesentlich die sog. „Tokenisierung“ von Vermögensgegenständen, Zahlungsmitteln und Rechten bei, die verschlüsselt als „Kryptowerte“ in verteilten Transaktionsregistern digital abgebildet werden können. Der vorliegende Beitrag erläutert die Grundlagen und Anwendungsfelder dezentraler Finanzdienstleistungen mit Kryptowerten, die mittelfristig die gesamte Architektur des Finanzsektors verändern könnten. Dieser Trend betrifft längst nicht nur die kontrovers diskutierten Zahlungsverkehrssysteme mit Kryptowährungen wie dem Bitcoin, sondern Handelsplattformen, Kapitalmärkte oder Unternehmensfinanzierungen. Es bildet sich ein rasch wachsendes Ökosystem aus Startups, Technologieunternehmen und etablierten Finanzdienstleistern, für das jedoch noch ein verlässlicher regulatorischer Rahmen fehlt. Die derzeit auf europäischer Ebene diskutierte Initiative „MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets)“ geht in die richtige Richtung, sollte aber im Interesse der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit des europäischen Finanzsektors zeitnah umgesetzt werden.
Mehr Nachhaltigkeit im deutschen Leitindex DAX - Reformvorschläge im Lichte des Wirecard-Skandals
(2020)
Im Rahmen der Aufarbeitung des Wirecard-Skandals wird ebenfalls eine Änderung der Kriterien zur Aufnahme in den deutschen Leitindex DAX diskutiert. Die bislang von der Deutschen Börse vorgelegten Vorschläge zur Reformierung des DAX gehen in die richtige Richtung, sind aber nicht weitreichend genug. Es bedarf eines deutlichen Zeichens, dass sich künftig nur solche Unternehmen für den DAX qualifizieren können, die ein zumindest befriedigendes Maß an Nachhaltigkeit gemessen durch einen ESG (Environment, Social, Governance)-Risk-Score in ihrer Geschäftstätigkeit erreichen. Eine Simulation verdeutlicht, dass nach ESG-Kriterien seit langem kritisch betrachtete Unternehmen dem DAX nicht mehr angehören würden. Dies würde klare Anreize bei den Unternehmen setzen, Nachhaltigkeitsaspekte stärker als bisher in ihrer Strategie zu berücksichtigen. Letztlich kann eine Neugestaltung wichtiger Aktienindizes einen Beitrag dazu leisten, dass mehr Kapital in nachhaltig wirtschaftende Unternehmen und Sektoren fließt.