Anyone with a computer, scanner, and color printer has the capability for creating documents such as identification cards, passports, and counterfeit currency. Laser desorption mass spectrometry (LDMS) has been demonstrated as a powerful tool for colorant analysis. Inkjet printers are now moving largely toward the use of pigments as colorants; their insolubility makes analysis by simpler methods such as thin-layer chromatography no longer an option. Recent developments in pigmented inkjet printer inks, such as gloss optimizers that coat pigment particles, may prohibit colorant analysis by LDMS. We demonstrate here that pigments used in inks from two Epson printers can be detected and analyzed by LDMS. Also, LDMS spectra of various colors created using a 4-cartridge (cyan/magenta/yellow/black, CMYK) inkset are evaluated, to begin to develop an approach for unraveling LDMS data from real samples, to determine the number of inks used by a printer, and the chemical composition of the colorants.
This article examines the political economy and law of bank resolution in the case of Italy – specifically, its treatment of three failing banks – the Monte dei Paschi, Veneto and Vicenza banks – which were resolved in 2016–17. These three cases stand out for the relatively large degree of discretion exercised by the national resolution and state aid authorities, ultimately with the permission of their European counterparts. This article examines the motivations of Italian authorities in lobbying the Commission for leeway in applying the bank recovery and resolution directive and analyses the intricacies of the legal framework to underline the extent of discretion exercised by policy‐makers. It concludes that the discretion visible in these three cases is not (entirely) contained within EU law, and that bending the law or turning a blind eye to infractions was key to understanding the EU approach to Italy.
Alternative banks -primarily savings and cooperative banks -have long been important components of national financial systems in many member states. Across Europe they are recognised as key institutions for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) finance, as well as the key institutions for providing mortgage and other credit to low-and medium-income households (LMIHs) that other banks undersupply. In the wake of Europe's financial crisis and its response in the form of banking union, alternative banks increasingly fall under stricter banking regulation designed primarily for commercial banks and the supervision of the European Central Bank (ECB). But the ECB's philosophy and methodology of ensuring that banks are properly capitalised and committed to standardised prudential practices and insurance schemes poses challenges to the traditional business model of alternative banks. They find it difficult to raise outside capital under stress due to their non-profit status, difficult to dispose of assets due to the overwhelming importance to their business model of lending to local businesses, government and households, and costly to establish modern systems of deposit insurance and bank resolution
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.