[From the Introduction]. Economic deregulation in many industrialised countries during the 1980s, the liberalisation of capital movements within the European Union (EU) in 1990, and the establishment of the single market for financial services have radically transformed the regulatory framework...

This chapter asks why and how services that are not previously thought of as tradable have increasingly been opened up to international competition in EU member states including even in Germany. The chapter contrasts an explanation that focuses on the impact of economic interests with an...

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects of the implementation of the Internal Market Programme and to propose ideas on how its potential can be better exploited. First, the paper offers a broader perspective to the analysis of the Internal Market by exploring its close links to the...

This report considers four short-term, alternative scenarios for the eurozone and analyses their possible implications for global economic trends and the gold market. Overall, the main findings suggest that in the near future, motives other than inflation hedging will be the main drivers of gold...

This paper outlines the changing financial scene in The Czech Republic, which is following the global pattern of institutional investors taking over the role of commercial banks as relationship banking is gradually giving way to transaction-driven banking. Investment-grade companies have become...

In the last two years, the major jurisdictions for equity trading, the U.S. and the E.U., introduced significant reforms in their market structure regulation, following diametrically opposite approaches. While the E.U. effort is deregulatory and decentralized, aiming to facilitate competition...

This paper examines the European Community’s regulatory regime for insurance with a view to current efforts to achieve a greater degree of market liberalisation on the global level. It draws on Peter Holmes’ and Alasdair Young’s argument that the EU has pioneered trade liberalisation in a...

This ECMI Policy Brief attempts to contribute to the ongoing policy debate on MiFID art. 65.1, which tasks the Commission with conducting a study to report on whether the trade transparency requirements that currently apply to share trading ought to be extended to non-equity markets. It presents...

As the European Commission is currently in the process of preparing its White Paper on the enhancement of the EU framework for investment funds (scheduled for November 2006), now is a good time to reflect on whether the UCITS framework needs a radical overhaul if the regulatory landscape is...

After the adoption of the EU pension funds directive, the regulatory framework for asset management in the EU is complete. The single licence and home country control will now be applicable across the board for the different lines of asset management business. However, considering that asset...