Financial Times features IEP Bocconi report on Europe’s capital markets and innovation financing
The Financial Times has featured the findings of the IEP Bocconi report Feasible Steps to Finance Innovation in Europe: Six Proposals to Strengthen EU Capital Markets in an op-ed authored by Ignazio Angeloni, Fellow at IEP Bocconi and former member of the ECB Supervisory Board.
The article engages with the European Union’s renewed effort to develop a Savings and Investment Union, arguing that previous attempts to build a Capital Markets Union fell short because they combined feasible market-oriented measures with far-reaching institutional reforms that failed to command sufficient political consensus. Drawing on the report’s analysis, Angeloni makes the case for a pragmatic, results-first approach focused on unlocking private capital for innovation and growth.
Prepared by a Reflection Group convened by the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi University and composed of practitioners from major financial institutions alongside academic experts, the report proposes six complementary actions to improve the flow of European savings toward young, innovative firms. These include the introduction of new tax-advantaged individual savings and voluntary retirement instruments; the creation of a euro-wide IPO platform tailored to scale-up companies; the removal of cross-border post-trading and custody barriers; the revitalisation of securitisation through a more market-friendly regulatory framework; and an enhanced strategic role for the EIB Group in supporting innovation finance.
A central message of both the report and the Financial Times commentary is that none of these measures requires treaty change, major legislative overhaul, or unanimous participation by all EU member states. Instead, meaningful progress can be achieved through coordinated action, private initiative, and targeted public support.
The full report is available on the IEP Bocconi website.
Europe will, in the long run, benefit from a coherent legal and supervisory environment and from more aligned taxation and insolvency laws. But waiting for this idealised future has already consumed a decade and would risk the same fate as earlier ones: grand announcements followed by delays, obstacles and eventual stalemate
IEP@BU does not express opinions of its own. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors.