The European Union and Global Financial Harmonisation

Abstract

This research examines the influence of the European Union (EU) in international financial harmonisation over the last two decades. It asks why the EU ‘uploads’ international financial regulation in some (few) cases, ‘downloads’ it in (many) other cases, or neither uploads or download rules. It sets up an analytical framework that combines the concepts of ‘international regulatory capacity’ and ‘EU regulatory capacity’, considering their variation across financial services as well as over time. Such a framework is then concisely applied to a variety of significant empirical case studies of prudential regulation of banking, securities, and insurance.