The Investment Services Directive and its Implementation in the EU Member States

Abstract:     
With the entry into force of the Investment Services Directive (ISD) on January 1st 1996, a major move has been made towards the integration of capital markets, by ensuring the cross-border mobility of the intermediaries on the market. This paper examines to which extent the ISD has actually contributed to realising a single European capital market, and how the member states have in general implemented the directive. Attention is also paid to future developments in the field of capital market regulation and market developments (inter alia the advent of European Monetary Union, the alliance movement between stock-exchanges and regulated markets), and the demutualisation of the stock exchanges. Finally we examine whether the mutations brought about by EMU and technological developments in financial markets should lead to further modifications to be made to the European Directives in the field of capital markets.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 38

JEL Classification: F36, G14

working papers series