The Integration Of Financial Services in Europe

Abstract

Changes over the last few decades in managing risk and investing money have been so radical that we can only describe them as being huge disruptions, maybe even revolutions. The boundaries that used to exist between the different financial activities have disappeared. Although things have accelerated rapidly over the last few decades, we should keep in mind that these developments are by no means new. The pawnbrokers and foreign exchange dealers of the Middle Ages, whose professions were separate and clearly identifiable, have seen their activities completely integrated into so-called universal banking services. More recently, merchant banks in France, who used to be the subject of specific regulation, have disappeared as separate legal entities. In the insurance field, it was barely 30 years ago, that some large businesses insured only against fire risks and others only casualty risks. The distinction between life and non-life, which is still maintained in the regulations, makes little sense in the everyday reality of insurance groups who transact these two activities together.

However, when we talk of the integration of financial services, we have in mind an even more recent phenomenon. Financial integration incorporates two developments, known in French as bancassurance and assurfinance. Today, under extremely diverse legal guises but following the same economic logic, banks sell insurance products and insurance networks sell banking products.

This movement can only be understood initially as the result of a need to diversify. Each one of these two large categories of financial intermediaries borrowed something from the other in order to increase its product range or bolster the know-how of its networks. It was simply about making sales organizations more cost effective by having them sell products outside of their traditional skills area, at more or less marginal cost. Today the expansion of offerings is done, approved, and even expounded on by theorists. And so now the next question is whether we should go further—turning our attention from distribution to manufacturing. This is where the current debate on the integration of financial services lies. Bluntly, if we allow banks to sell insurance policies and insurers to sell consumer credit, should we allow a joint organization to design such products and distribute them down both channels at the same time? More subtly, we might ask ourselves whether we should be exercising more specific control over these financial conglomerates that, while maintaining a formal legal separation between banking and insurance, constitute in fact a single decision-making center.

This article sets out to portray what is perhaps not the state of the law, but at least the state of the art, on this topic in the European Union. In the first part, it will show that while sales integration is an undeniable fact, with the customer seeing fewer and fewer differences, it still remains that banks and insurance carriers are separate entities from a legal perspective and that the European Union remains totally committed to controlling financial conglomerates. In practice, integration of financial services takes different forms. In part two, we examine cases involving problems between entities doing the same job, and cooperation between design facilities without any apparent desire to go further. In the long run, this integration will succeed only if it receives the public?s approval. Part three addresses what consumers and investors want. We observe that after decades of exposure to specialized networks, consumers are not necessarily as enthusiastic as proponents of integration would have hoped. As adult consumers, they are not prepared to buy just any financial service anywhere they can, and they still largely place their trust in the brands they know.     

金融服务一体化研究

金融服务一体化已成为全球金融业新世纪发展的大趋势。随着我国金融体制改革的深入和加入世界贸易组织后金融业竞争的加剧，放松金融管制，拓宽金融机构的服务范围，从分业经营转向允许金融机构以适当的组织形式实现金融服务一体化是我国未来几年金融体制改革的必然趋向。     

银行金融服务与企业财务战略

随着企业运作市场化程度的不断深入,企业财务战略日益受到重视,在企业运营中扮演着越来越重要的角色。作为金融服务的提供者之一,银行业如何通过有效配合企业财务战略,争取更大的发展空间、与企业实现双赢自然也更为金融界关注。笔者从银行金融服务的角度,通过分析企业财务战略及对我国企业发展的趋势判断,揭示了按照筹资--采购--生产-流通--销售-债权-债权回收-投资的企业基本运作循环模式,银行服务企业财务战略的结合点。     

让所有人平等地享受金融服务

今后一个时期,为穷人提供全方位微型金融服务,大力构建普惠金融体系,在保证可持续发展的前提下,实现从扶贫到培育其发展能力的转变,将成为我国金融改革和发展中不可忽视的一个重要课题。     

革新中小企业金融服务的探索与实践——兼谈促进中小企业外部环境建设

对于目前最主要的金融服务供给者——银行而言,在经济下行周期里选择输血抑或抽血,成为一个必须抉择的问题。正当一些银行悄然抛出针对中小企业的再见论时,民生银行的中小企业客户却在这时纷纷收到一封关怀函,上面写着我们将始终如初,不离不弃,与您共渡难关,共同成长……     

On Financial Services Reform And Financial Consumer Protection

我国金融机构股份制改革后,实现股东价值最大化和着力开拓中间业务,同保护金融消费者权益出现了诸多矛盾,如何才能正确处理这对矛盾,在借鉴国外政府保护金融消费者权益经验基础上,对如何加强对我国金融消费者权益的保护提出了八点看法与建议,供探讨。     

Financial Integration and EMU

This paper investigates the effect of European Monetary Union on the integration of the financial services industry within European using data on the announcements of M&A's within the industry. We find some evidence that EMU has helped financial integration within the euro area. In addition, financial institutions in EMU countries became more active in initiating integration between EMU and non‐EMU partners, which also contributed to overall regional integration within European. The more active role of EMU institutions suggests that institutions residing in the eurozone became stronger players in the corporate control market. However, EMU does not facilitate the entry of non‐European institutions into European.     

推进深港金融市场一体化的设想

2008年是中国改革开发的第三十年,也是中国全面履行加入WTO后金融业开放承诺的第三年,由此中国金融管理体制的改革也进入了更深入的阶段.中国股市经历了近2年的疯狂后从2008年开始急转直下,一路跌穿了2000点,仅两年间便经历了4000点的涨跌,涨跌幅分别高达300%和60%.     

金融服务下地铁

2011年以来,人民银行成都分行认真贯彻总行统一部署,将金融信息化与城市信息化紧密结合,把"城市一卡通"建设和金融IC卡多行业应用结合,以成都地铁应用为突破口,积极推进成都市金融IC卡在公共服务领域的应用工作。2012年3月16日,成都市人民政府和人民银行成都分行共同举办了"成都市金融IC卡多应用试点工作推进会     

金融服务业：如何简化信息技术

目前大多数机构面临的主要信息技术问题是:如何应对日益增长的复杂性。IT复杂性造成的问题可以通过大幅简化IT系统来解决。简化IT系统,第一步是对当前的IT环境做出诊断,第二步是确定整体目标IT系统,第三步是制定一系列程序以简化IT。在实施这些具体步骤时,还要注意一个重要方面:组织结构。IT简化不应是一次性事件,而应是一个不断进行的过程。     

如何使金融创新转化为盈利

即使在高度成熟的金融产品领域,也依然有无数方法进行创新以及在创新过程中创造价值。问题是很少有金融机构能够在创新的同时持续地将新点子转化为利润。创新不仅是产品、服务、程序、商业模型或其他方式的创新,而且是一个过程,因此与任何其他过程一样,需要严格管理和不断投入。     

金融排斥与农村金融服务空白的消除

正金融排斥的界定与衡量指标金融排斥(financial exclusion)是近十年来才出现的一个新概念,最早是从社会排斥里分化出来的一个概念。早期对金融排斥的研究,是从金融地理学角度进行探讨的,即研究居民到金融服务网点的实际距离对居民获得金融服务便利性的影响。相关研究     

中国金融混业经营已成弦上之箭

美国金融业经历了从分业到混业的转变,其间是漫长的66年,从混业到分业再到混业,是不是一个规律。中国有没有沿此规律运行的可能     

服务与创新系列报道之一从全方位实践优质服务——中国工商银行广东省分行营业部优质服务纪实

姜建清董事长在今年年初的分行党委书记、行长会议报告中,把深入开展“优质服务年”活动和大力推进金融创新摆在今年工作的前两位,把“服务”和“创新”作为促进全年工作的两个抓手。从银行的经营管理来看,服务和创新紧密联系在一起:服务过程中可以发现并提出很多创新需求,而创新又可以提升服务的水平和层次。因此,通过改善金融服务和加快金融创新,不仅可以使全行的服务面貌根本改观,显著提升客户满意度和社会美誉度;也可以通过产品创新、市场创新和科技创新,提高金融服务的供给能力,不断增强核心竞争力。为了配合今年服务和创新活动的开展,从本期开始,本刊将追踪报道各行在服务与创新方面的最新举措,以推动全行的服务和创新再上一个新的台阶。     

农村金融的生意

农村金融的生意触手可及。国家政策的放宽,赋予农村平等金融权是前提;各种农村金融组织的积极参与是载体;农民自主能动性的最大发挥是关键。     

银行业如何做好中小企业金融服务——以中国银行河南省分行为例

中小企业在国民经济中的地位和重要性不断提升,但银行业的金融服务水平与中小企业旺盛的金融需求仍存在一定差距,如何有效解决中小企业融资难问题也成为各方关心和研究的一个重要课题.中国银行河南省分行在中小企业金融服务方面,改革甚至颠覆了原来的大公司模式,创新机制、产品和经营模式,取得了较好的成效.     

金融服务一体化和中国金融业的综合经营

狭义的金融服务一体化主要是指综合经营,广义的金融服务一体化不仅指综合经营,还包括金融机构间的契约联结形式:销售协议、战略联盟和合资企业。在世界范围内出现金融服务一体化浪潮的同时,也没有掩盖金融服务业的专业化发展趋势。金融服务一体化可能导致的利益冲突问题,突显防火墙制度与市场声誉机制的重要,基于此,构建高效能的政府监管能力和培育成熟的市场就显得十分关键。中国金融业在分业与混业之间,政策一度摇摆不定,现在终于明确综合经营的发展趋向,这符合世界金融业的发展潮流,必须肯定;不过由此产生的利益冲突问题,又需要我国在推进综合经营时必须谨慎对待。