Governing Financial Services in the European Union

The global financial crisis that reached its peak in late 2008 has brought the importance of financial services regulation and supervision into the spotlight. This book examines the governance of financial services in the EU and explains where the power lies in the policy-making process. It covers the main financial services – banking, securities, payments systems, clearing and settlement. Addressing the politics and public policy aspects of financial market integration, regulation and supervision, it conducts a theoretically informed and empirically grounded analysis of financial services governance from the establishment of Economic and Monetary Union and the launch of the Financial Services Action Plan in 1999 to the present day. It also assesses the EU responses to the global financial crisis. Providing a reliable and unique insight into the politics of financial services regulation in the EU based on an extensive programme of elite interviews with policy-makers and stakeholders across Europe, the book will be of great topical interest to students and scholars of European Union Studies, political science and political economy