Financial markets in Europe: Towards a single regulator?

Abstract:

This book, as with many others on the European Union, faces the question - if it is a Common Market then how common is the market? The contributors, who are gathered from legal and practitioner experts, present an accurate picture of current capital market regulatory conditions both at Member State level and in the European Union as a whole. A consensus of opinion amongst them might suggest the need to move directly to a European SEC (or FSA) in the regulation of equity markets, but one could argue that the banking sector would need to be brought under the same control. These aspects are discussed by several contributors.

The work is organised in three parts. Part one opens with a chapter on the legal integration of financial markets in the Euro area, then moves through other topics such as a single European capital market, regulatory harmonisation in Europe, home country control and investment services, and private law approaches to enhancing financial stability. Part two addresses the centralisation of securities market supervision, presenting arguments around the establishment of a European Securities Commission, the Lamfalussy report, and the case for a single European Securities Regulator. Part three concerns itself with the horizontal consolidation of financial supervision, offering perspectives from national, EU and international viewpoints. The section includes some country specific cases from the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden and Denmark and closes with chapter exploring the potential impact on the operations of the European Investment Bank.

The book will interest lawyers, practitioners, regulators and all concerned with the current and future development of European financial markets.

Mads Andenas is Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, Supernumerary Fellow at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford and Senior Fellow at the Institute of European and Comparative Law, University of Oxford.

Yannis V. Avgerinos is a Research Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and Emile Noël Fellow at the European Union Center, Harvard University.