The Governance Structure for Integration of the Financial and Capital Markets in the EU

Abstract

Financial integration of the EU is entering a new stage, with new proposals to bring forward the common financial market to strengthen its contribution to economic growth. The agreement of the Financial Services Action Plan in 1999 has been a large step in this direction, which in turn has led to the commencement of a new legislative approach. The new legislative approach was necessary to speed legislation in tandem with innovation in financial services. This Lamfalussy process introduced a holistic approach to the comitology method into financial services by ensuring transparency and accountability. This has enabled the completion of the legislative programme for securities regulations in time, and made possible the extension of the Lamfalussy process to banking and insurance.This article examines the path to the adoption of the Lamfalussy process and its subsequent evaluation. The discussions provide an important insight into the governance structure of the EU. Further, there are strong implications to the future of financial services regulation in the EU. The regulatory structure of financial services will also be considered in the context of global discourse on the matter.