In the decades preceding the 2007-2009 international financial crisis and the related ‘doom loop’ between the European sovereign debt crisis and the European banking sector crisis (2010-2013), the external financing of the ‘real’ activities in the continental part of the European Union (EU) and – in particular – in the euro area (EMU) was focused on bank credit. Moreover, in that same area many banking groups had a dominant role (along with some insurance companies) in the management of household financial wealth.

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