Setting the Pace? Private Financial Interests and European Financial Market Integration

Abstract

The regulation and supervision of financial services in the EU has undergone significant change between 2000 and 2005, when the so-called Lamfalussy framework, the Basel 2 agreement and its transposition into the Capital Requirements Directive were agreed. This research examines the preferences of national financial interest groups in Germany and the UK (the independent variable) in shaping national input and, more precisely, the contributions given by the relevant public authorities to EU and international policy-making processes (the dependent variable). The impact, if any, on the final outputs (the relevant international and EU agreements) is also discussed. It is argued that the level of involvement of each interest group depends on the policy content, namely, whether the policy concerns a broad institutional issue or specific rules, while the degree of interest group influence in policy-making processes depends on domestic institutions, namely state structure, interest representation and political economy institutions.