Financial integration within the European Union: Towards a single market for insurance

Our study analyses the extent of integration of the EU market for life and non-life insurance. The main integration indicator used is the market share (premium based) of foreign companies in domestic markets. For the calculation of this indicator, three different kinds of foreign presence are taken into account: foreign presence through merger and acquisitions, through branches and agencies and direct cross-border sales without physical presence. Whereas the static view reveals a high degree of national fragmentation the dynamic view indicates advancing integration. The results also show that integration is even less advanced for life than for non-life insurance and that mergers and acquisitions are the dominant strategy to access a foreign market. Besides summarising the liberalisation history of the European insurance sector and discussing consumer benefits from further integration, the study contributes to a better understanding of obstacles to insurance market integration.European Financial Integration; Insurance Sector; Internal Market

Market Access Strategies in the EU Banking Sector - Obstacles and Benefits towards an integrated European Retail Market

The integration process in the European banking sector considerably differs with regard to product types. Deep integration can be observed in the money market as well as the market for wholesale products. In contrast to that, a strong segmentation of national markets still exists in the field of retail products. In this context, the paper analyses market access strategies of European banks. The analysis is based both on aggregate sectoral data and on four company case studies (BSCH, Nordea Group, BNP Paribas and HSBC). It is explored to which extent different market access strategies contribute to the integration of the European retail markets. A clear result is that mergers and acquisition as well as cooperations and strategic alliances form the most important market access strategies. Direct cross-border sales and the establishment of branches and subsidiaries are of minor importance. All strategies are complicated by considerable natural and politically induced barriers to market access. In particular, such politically induced barriers are different national supervision of banks, different tax legislation, as well as national accounting and take-over principles. Here, further harmonizations are suited to accelerate the integration of European retail markets and thus to increase consumer benefits by lower prices and a higher product variety for financial services.European integration; cross-border banking; mergers and acquisitions

Deepening European Financial Integration: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evaluation of Growth and Employment Benefits

This paper analyses some long-run macroeconomic effects of European financial integration. In particular we focus on the further reduction and abolition of cross-border barriers impeding the entry into the markets of banking and insurance products. We follow a theoretical as well as an empirical approach to make predictions about how deeper integration will affect growth and unemployment rates. In our growth model we show that enhanced foreign financial market penetration should increase the overall growth rate unambiguously. The empirical analysis includes a wide set of indicators, each of them capturing different aspects of financial development and financial market integration. On the basis of the estimations a weak growth impact of foreign market penetration can be identified. Hence, deeper financial integration generates a growth bonus. But the long-run growth effect is conditional on differences in institutional characteristics captured by country-specific effects. The analysis is supplemented by an analysis of the potential employment benefits of deeper financial integration. We show that the growth bonus can be transformed into an employment bonus, but also not without considering substantial country-specific differences.economic growth; unemployment; European integration

Market Access Strategies in the EU Banking Sector - Obstacles and Benefits towards an integrated European Retail Market

The integration process in the European banking sector considerably differs with regard to product types. Deep integration can be observed in the money market as well as the market for wholesale products. In contrast to that, a strong segmentation of national markets still exists in the field of retail products. In this context, the paper analyses market access strategies of European banks. The analysis is based both on aggregate sectoral data and on four company case studies (BSCH, Nordea Group, BNP Paribas and HSBC). It is explored to which extent different market access strategies contribute to the integration of the European retail markets. A clear result is that mergers and acquisition as well as cooperations and strategic alliances form the most important market access strategies. Direct cross-border sales and the establishment of branches and subsidiaries are of minor importance. All strategies are complicated by considerable natural and politically induced barriers to market access. In particular, such politically induced barriers are different national supervision of banks, different tax legislation, as well as national accounting and take-over principles. Here, further harmonizations are suited to accelerate the integration of European retail markets and thus to increase consumer benefits by lower prices and a higher product variety for financial services

Deepening European Financial Integration: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Evaluation of Growth and Employment Benefits

This paper analyses some long-run macroeconomic effects of European financial integration. In particular we focus on the further reduction and abolition of cross-border barriers impeding the entry into the markets of banking and insurance products. We follow a theoretical as well as an empirical approach to make predictions about how deeper integration will affect growth and unemployment rates. In our growth model we show that enhanced foreign financial market penetration should increase the overall growth rate unambiguously. The empirical analysis includes a wide set of indicators, each of them capturing different aspects of financial development and financial market integration. On the basis of the estimations a weak growth impact of foreign market penetration can be identified. Hence, deeper financial integration generates a growth bonus. But the long-run growth effect is conditional on differences in institutional characteristics captured by country-specific effects. The analysis is supplemented by an analysis of the potential employment benefits of deeper financial integration. We show that the growth bonus can be transformed into an employment bonus, but also not without considering substantial country-specific differences