Integrating Europe’s Financial Markets: Beyond and Through the Crisis. 2nd ed.

This second edition of this influential IMF book, originally released in the autumn of 2007, has been expanded and updated to reflect developments since the start of the global financial crisis. The central tenet of the first edition, that continued progress to integrate Europe's financial integration would require reform of the EU's financial stability arrangements, has been put into sharp relief by the crisis, which erupted around the time of its initial publication.

This revised edition recasts the debate about European financial integration in light of the crisis, with a new chapter outlining the case for financial integration, which remains compelling despite the current challenges and setbacks. Indeed, the need for a fundamental overhaul of the EU's financial stability arrangements is more urgent than ever. Only with an integrated and modernized financial stability framework will the EU be able to establish an integrated and sound financial system that can efficiently serve the needs of its citizens in the post-crisis era.

The book sketches the basic outlines of such a financial stability framework and uses it to assess the recommendations of the de Larosière Group. The proposals of this group, which include establishing an integrated system of financial supervisors, are currently guiding the policy debate in Europe.

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