Crisis as a Window of Opportunity for Regulatory Shifts and Institutional Reform: Insights from Policy Framing in European Financial Sector Regulation

Radulova, Elissaveta and Spendzharova, Aneta and Versluis, Esther and Flothe, Linda (2015) Crisis as a Window of Opportunity for Regulatory Shifts and Institutional Reform: Insights from Policy Framing in European Financial Sector Regulation. [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This article examines the European response to complex financial crises. In particular it traces the debate on the revision of the financial services supervision, and demonstrates a major and abrupt shift in European financial governance with regard to two very important dimensions of every regulatory system: the locus and form of institutionalization (where the EU underwent a shift from a decentralized and network-based to a centralised and institutionalised regime), and the regulatory approach (where the EU embraces harmonization and standardisation after decades of support for mutual recognition). To illustrate these substantial shifts we conduct longitudinal qualitative content analysis of the European Council’s Presidency Conclusions from the start of the 1990s to 2013, and we study the position papers presented by banks and banking associations in the so-called De Larosière consultation round of 2009 (which determined the future of financial services supervision in the EU). In the aftermath of the crisis, we find surprising consensus for both: support for central institutions and harmonization.

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