Financial Institutions and Prudential Policy Unit (FIPP)

Financial Institutions and Prudential Policy Unit - FIPP is a division within the Centre for European Policy Studies. The Financial Institutions and Prudential Policy Unit (FIPP) is mainly a research unit which looks into four main areas of concern: regulation and supervision of financial institutions and financial stability; investigating size, diversity and innovation in the financial sector in Europe; internal markets for financial services; positioning of small/ regional/ international financial centers.

Each major research division is comprised of its own internal task force. This enables the FIPP to work at its most efficient and effective with minimal supervision needed from the CEPS. This division is an integral aspect of the crisis management program of the EU.

The CEPS notes that it does not take positions on issues. As an organization, it is committed to carry out state-of-the-art policy research, addressing the challenges facing Europe; to achieve high standards of academic excellence and maintain unqualified independence and impartiality; to provide a forum for discussion among all stakeholders in the European policy process; and to build collaborative networks of researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders across the whole of Europe.

The centre comments on a wide variety of financial and employment topics. In 2017, its report on the technology stated that studies predict that digitalization and robotization will cause job losses up to 50% of all jobs over the next few decades, yet "research argues that such assertions are mere fear-mongering and that in reality, the internet is creating more jobs than it destroys – and that these new jobs are better paid and less physically strenuous than their predecessors."

In 2018, its report on the EU Budget concluded that, "developed mainly as a sectoral support for agriculture and an investment tool at EU and regional level, the EU budget combines a rigid structure with a limited capacity. This makes it unfit to respond promptly and adequately to economic shocks or implement measures to counteract business cycle fluctuations."

Another 2017 report on labor markets and inflation stated that: "The tightening of the labor market should have led to higher wages, which would ultimately translate into higher prices. But this mechanism, the so-called Phillips curve, seems to have broken down. In both the United States and Japan, despite low unemployment, wages are not increasing, at least not at the rate indicated by historical experience. And the wage increases that are occurring, such as in the US, are not having the impact on prices that one would expect."