Financial services policy and financial stability

EU financial services policy covers aspects as wide-ranging as:

creating a more integrated capital market in the EU and a more diversified financial system (capital markets union);
regulating the European Central Bank’s central supervision of the larger banks in the euro area, along with the orderly resolution of failing banks (banking union);
setting up supervisory mechanisms and prudential, governance and transparency requirements for banks, improving protection for depositors and regulating bank failures;
setting up rules governing the functioning of market infrastructure (e.g. trading venues, central clearing houses);
improving the EU single market for retail financial services and payments, and making it work better for consumers and investors;
establishing rules to facilitate the activities of insurance companies and pension funds across the EU, ensure that they manage risks and can survive in difficult times, and protect policyholders;
strengthening the governance of financial instruments, trade in securities and investment funds and rules making post-trade services safer and more efficient;
establishing rules to strengthen the quality of auditing practices and company reporting;
establishing rules to boost the role of finance in achieving a greener and more sustainable economy (sustainable finance);
improving the efficiency of the financial system by incorporating the use of new financial technologies (fintech);
fighting money laundering and terrorist financing.

The purpose of EU financial services policy is to deliver stable, secure and efficient financial markets operating in an environment that: