Executive Summary Friedrich Heinemann Mathias Jopp

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1. Introduction

In spite of considerable progress toward European capital market integration following the completion of the Single Market and the introduction of the Euro, national borders still constitute a considerable de facto barrier for retail financial markets. Direct cross-border business between financial service suppliers and end consumers is still the exception. Against this background this report addresses the following questions:

• How powerful is the integrating effect of ongoing market trends like internet and crossborder mergers and acquisitions?
• Which benefits could be realised if a higher level of integration could be achieved?
• Which obstacles are mainly responsible for incomplete integration?