European Financial Services

Abstract

Firms of all sizes across the European market face a new challenge in an era after liberalisation. The completion of the single market means that capital and labour, goods and services are moving with greater freedom. As a result, powerful forces are now at work that will dissolve national regulatory barriers that have preserved the structure, concentration and stolidness of European industry. This is particularly true in the financial services industry, where the liberal reforms of the single market process are beginning to drive a change from a set of national self-contained financial systems to a single, interconnected financial market. Consequently, the convergence of financial systems that is at hand, is placing formerly national financial organisations at a strategic crossroads. As the end of the decade draws to a close, the question for all financial service companies is which route to follow?