The Impact of the European Integration Process on the Banking System – an Overview

Abstract

In the last decade the European integration process was the main focuses of the European Union, as its completion could bring a huge step toward a fully integrated European Union. As the banking sector is the main channel for funding of the European economy, it has become now more clearly than ever that is integration is of the up more essence. The aim of this paper is to quantify the progresses registered by the main European Union’s economies in the process of banking integration, as their example is generally followed by the other member states. First we underline the necessity of the European integration and the progress made using an extended literature review doublet by an analysis of the main indicators for the banking systems of these countries. We also present, in a non-exhaustive way, the main trends that have characterised the banking sectors of these countries in the last decade: diversification, vertical product differential and consolidation underlying their impact on the sectors architecture.