Cross Border Entry In European Retail Financial Services

Providing a comprehensive assessment of the strategies of banks and insurance companies in the move towards an internal European market for financial services, this book analyzes the latest theoretical and institutional developments. It also provides a range of case studies of actual cross-border entry strategies of some of the largest European financial institutions.

This report argues that policy reforms in micro- and macro-prudential regulation and macroeconomic policies are needed for Europe to reap the important diversification and efficiency benefits from cross-border banking, while reducing the risks stemming from large cross-border banks.Available online as pdf at: http: //www.cepr.org/pubs/books/CEPR/cross-border_banking.pd

This book provides an extensive and critical assessment of the current regulatory and supervisory framework of investment services in the European Union (EU) and proposes alternative institutional structures. Recent trends in financial services at EU level as well as regulatory and institutional developments at national level make the focus of this book very timely. The book contributes to the debate by making specific suggestions with regard to the institutional structure and the operational sphere of a central pan-European regulator.

Looking back over the last decade it can be said with some justification that sig nificant progress has been achieved on the way towards fully integrated financial markets in Europe. The 1993 Internal Market initiative and the Euro introduction in 1999/2002 constitute important milestones. The integration process has further been intensified by market developments like the surge in mergers and acquisi tions and by technological innovations like internet based distribution. As a result, some market segments today do no longer have a national character. Nevertheless, this success should not obscure the fact that integration of financial services markets is still a long way from the level of integration that exists within national markets. Particularly for retail financial services national borders still constitute a considerable de facto barrier. The absence of frequent direct cross border links between financial service providers and retail consumers holds true despite the fact that the Euro has made product comparisons easier and that the internet has reduced information costs to a considerable extent.

The third in a series of annual volumes on the financial sector from the Brookings Institution and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania explores the ongoing process of globalization in the financial services industry. Leading financial experts from the corporate, government, and academic communities examine global trends in banking, in reinsurance industries, and in securities markets; the challenges these trends pose for national regulations; the evolution of global accounting standards; the alleged effects of global hedge funds on capital flows into and out of emerging markets; and the erosion of legal barriers to the establishment of foreign financial services firms around the world.Opening remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers present both national security and economic arguments for direct American support for increased global interdependence in trade in goods and services, including U.S. support for international financial institutions.

A comprehensive assessment of the cross-border issues that will affect UK firms selling investment services and products after the UK has left the EU. We look at the situation where UK financial services firms are unable to make use of European passports, i.e. the UK as a third country in relation to the EU. The paper also looks at consequences for EEA and non-EEA firms wishing to market into the UK. Using the methodology that BRP Bizzozero & Partners has developed for assessment of cross-border activity, the paper provides a broad view of barriers to cross-border activity and applies this to the specific and so far unprecedented case of a major country such as the UK leaving the EU.

This very useful volume provides a ‘ground up’ survey, from a business law point of view, of the concept of finance as a vital component of the economic structure of the European Communities. In deeply informed detail it describes the architecture of the financial system, its institutions (banks, stock exchanges, etc.), the variety of financial instruments, the progress of liberalisation and harmonisation initiatives in Europe, relevant EC legislation, regulation of capital markets and securities, the development of international financial law, and the management of legal risk. The authors are all outstanding authorities in the field, with extensive experience both as practitioners and academics in many European countries and elsewhere in the world. The essays in this book grew out of lecture courses delivered under the auspices of the PALLAS Consortium organised by nine universities in seven EU Member States. Among the wealth of material covered, the reader will find, among much else, precise and interrelated explanations of the following: the transferring, sharing and insuring of risks; relevant contractual arrangements; the intermediation and distribution functions of financial institutions; primary markets versus secondary markets; money markets versus capital markets; stock market ‘players’; the role of letters of credit; pension funds; and the management of payment systems; The book is especially valuable for its middle way between a ‘top down’ EU regulatory perspective and a strictly national framework—a method that supports and reinforces a practice-oriented approach corresponding to the ‘real world’ in which domestic and cross-border aspects of financial services are inevitably intertwined. Practitioners and business law students will find the book extraordinarily useful for its expert guidance and insight in clarifying many situations involving financial services and in resolving typical problems.

"Retail Intelligence & Network Planning" baut auf dem Erfolg des Vorgängerbandes "Intelligent GIS" auf, in dem Grundlagen und Anwendungen von GIS und Raummodellen für die strategische Planung ausführlich dargelegt wurden. "Retail Intelligence & Network Planning" konzentriert sich in erster Linie auf den breiten Einzelhandelssektor; die hier behandelten Beispiele stammen aus einer Vielzahl von Branchen. Die Autoren erläutern, wie wichtig Fallstudien für die moderne Standortforschung sind und behandeln eine breite Palette von Fragen zu Standort, Distribution und Management der Vertriebskanalproblematik, die für Einzelhandels- und Dienstleistungsunternehmen von großem Interesse sind.