Financial Services in the European Union
The Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP), adopted by the European Commission in May 1999, is a package of policy objectives and specific measures designed to improve the single market for financial services. It focuses on three strategic objectives: a single market for wholesale financial services; open and secure retail markets; state-of-the-art prudential rules and supervision. Documents and publications relevant to financial services in the European union can be found below.
- Retail Financial Services in the Single Market: Green Paper
- Asset management and mortgage green papers
- EU Financial Services Action Plan: A Guide
- Government Expert Group on Mortgage Credit (GEGMC) Questionnaire - A joint response for the UK by HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority (2.6MB)
Joint FSA and HMT response to the European Commission's public consultation paper on changes to the decisions establishing CEBS, CEIOPS and CESR
In May 2008, the European Commission issued a consultation paper on amendments to the decisions establishing the three Lamfalussy Level Three committees - CESR, CEBS and CEIOPS. In July 2008 a joint response was submitted by HM Treasury and the Financial Services Authority. This was also agreed with the Bank of England and the Pensions Regulator.
- Commission Public Consultation Paper on Amendments to Commission Decisions establishing CESR, CEBS & CEIOPS (PDF 79.7KB)
- UK Response to the Commission consultation on level three (PDF 50.5KB)
- Joint letter to Commissioner McCreevy from Callum McCarthy, Chairman FSA, and Kitty Ussher, Economic Secretary to the Treasury PDF 38.3KB)
3 March 2008
Financial services supervision: Chancellor´s 3 March letter to Ecofin colleagues covering ongoing supervision, crisis management, and resolution (PDF file 2.71MB)
The ongoing financial market turmoil has provided a test of our supervisory and regulatory structures, both across the EU and internationally. The G7, FSF and EU have agreed a substantial work programme to address this, but the UK believes there are lessons for ongoing supervision, for crisis management, and for their resolution, where additional work is necessary. The UK therefore proposes further action: to (i) strengthen the ongoing prudential supervision of cross-border financial firms by making supervisory colleges a requirement in the EU, (ii) on crisis management and resolution asking Member States to set up cross border stability groups so that cross-border crisis can be better managed, and (iii) review deposit guarantee schemes to ensure the arrangements within the EU provide sufficient confidence and protection to underpin the internal market.
7 November 2007
Strengthening the EU regulatory and supervisory framework: a practical approach (PDF file 410KB)
The EU's regulatory and supervisory framework - the so-called Lamfalussy arrangements - are being reviewed at the end of the year. Overall the UK authorities believe the Lamfalussy arrangements are structurally sound, and have made a major contribution to the regulation and supervision of financial markets in the EU. Nevertheless, the UK authorities propose a number of practical and ambitious proposals that they believe will deliver further tangible benefits in terms of the efficiency of the regulatory and supervisory process facing firms and the effectiveness in the way the Lamfalussy committees conduct their day-to-day business. Together they represent a positive, constructive and ambitious agenda for further developing the EU's regulatory and supervisory framework.
January 2005
Supervising financial services in an integrated European Single Market: A discussion paper (PDF file 382KB)
As Europe’s financial markets become more integrated, so the question of how to supervise these markets becomes more complex. There is no single or simple way to achieve supervisory convergence: the issues are complex and the solutions are multiple and multi-faceted. This paper sketches out five related challenges that need to be addressed to make progress on achieving convergence of supervisory practice, and offers some proposals for how this can be achieved. Such proposals do not require new EU legislation but rather focus on practical solutions to this complex issue. Taken together, these challenges and proposals present an ambitious framework for action.
Dossiers
Links to all web-pages on forthcoming Commission proposals, legislation under negotiation and legislation in the process of being implemented.
Forthcoming dossiers:
Legislation currently under preparation by the European Commission:
Deposit Guarantee Schemes
Basel Capital adequacy rules for financial institutions
Solvency II
Cross-Border Payments
Reinsurance
Dossiers currently under negotiation:
Co-decision process ongoing
Completed dossiers:
Legislation adopted, either fully implemented or being implemented in the UK
Conglomerates
Market Abuse Directive
Distance Marketing Directive
Insurance Mediation Directive
UCITS Directive
Pensions Directive
Prospectus Directive
Collateral Directive
Transparency Directive
Markets in Financial Instruments Directive
Related links
- Government response to the Treasury Committee´s seventh report for session 2005-2006. This memorandum sets out the Government's response to the House of Commons Treasury Committee's report into European Financial Services Regulation (PDF file, HC 778).
- List of useful links
Some of the above documents are available in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF). If you do not have Adobe Acrobat installed on your computer you can download the software free of charge from the Adobe website. For alternative ways to read PDF documents and further information on website accessibility visit the HM Treasury accessibility page.
Contact
For any details on process and developments, please use contact details below:
Email: Aviva Rosen or Karen Ainsworth at European Union Financial Services
Phone: 0207 270 5510
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