The EU Insurance Industry: Are we Heading for an Ideal Single Financial Services Market?

The expert group "Insurance and Pensions" discussed the state-of-the-art of the (EU) insurance market with members of the European Commission and carried out a controlled review of the single market regulation that has been achieved or is being strived for in the future. The article now stresses the gaps between the intended and the actual situation in a critical but constructive way and points out what still needs to be done. The statements of the expert group ascertain that the process of developing a single financial services market in the EU has become entangled in the net of the many regulations issued by the European Commission. These regulations are impeding the productive implementation of the single market in all 25 EU Member States and making it quite difficult to achieve the aim of the most successful single financial services market in the world. Keywords: Financial Services Action Plan; FSAP; single financial services market in the EU; european regulations; insurance and pension market; european directives