EU financial governance and Brexit

Thesis

This dissertation assesses the state of EU financial governance in light of how the EU financial legal and institutional machinery has managed the withdrawal of the UK from the block. It argues that EU Member States – motivated by the desires of boosting the size of their domestic financial markets and of their tax revenues, of preserving their sovereign prerogatives, and of using finance as a lever to further their national foreign policy – have exploited the loopholes of EU financial governance to lure business from the City into their national territories while blocking any unified EU stance. Such an inability of the EU financial governance to manage the Brexit process has had important consequences for the single market in financial services, because it has led to a loss of market efficiency without guaranteeing the overall stability and competitiveness of the EU financial system. In light of the lessons of the Brexit saga, this dissertation proposes to overhaul the regulatory and supervisory arrangements governing how the EU manages its trade in financial services with foreign jurisdictions, which have become all the more important in the current geopolitical situation. The assessment of the equivalence of third-country should be centralised at the EU level for all financial services, whereas the European Central Bank and the European Securities and Markets Authority should be tasked with the supervision of third-country financial entities entering in the single market. This proposed reform will not only foster the ability of the EU to preserve the stability and efficiency of its financial system in the global arena, but it will also be an important step to complete its Banking Union and Capital Markets Union.

Authors: Canini, R

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-dxer0bw2d
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: equivalence; Brexit; EU financial services
• Subjects: EU financial regulation