European Commission Green Paper on Building a Capital Markets Union

The European Association of Corporate Treasurers (EACT) welcomes the Commission's Green Paper on Building a Capital Markets Union. We think this is an important and much needed initiative from the Commission. Europe is in serious need of action to support its companies with efficient and well-functioning capital markets. The recent programme of financial regulation has concentrated on ensuring financial stability and on preventing a new crisis. Whilst this was necessary, these measures have had some serious negative consequences on the ability of non-financial companies to fund themselves, manage their risks and handle their liquidity. We view the Capital Markets Union as an opportunity for the EU to move beyond a post-crisis regulatory agenda and re-focus financial regulation, putting the needs of the real economy at the centre of their actions. We believe that an important part of the exercise should be to review existing legislation, keeping in mind what businesses need from the financial system and how it can help non-financial companies to grow, invest and create jobs. Some of the recent and planned regulatory initiatives - such as the proposed regulation of money market funds and the threat of an FTT implementation - create an unnecessary burden on businesses, inhibit recovery and fail to contribute in any way to financial stability. We will seek to make constructive input to the debate in order to ensure that future legislation will be well-targeted and balanced, thereby helping to create a competitive and thriving European economy.