The internationalization of financial markets is one of the focal points in the discussion about recent globalization trends. These discussions suggest that capital can move freely between countries. However, there is ample evidence that national borders do matter and that there are many implicit and explicit barriers to integration. Understanding the factors that unify and that separate financial markets and thus reconciling these two stylized facts is at the core of this book. While the main focus of the empirical work is on banking industry, results are yet informative also with regard to developments in other financial market segments. Also, the book uses European financial integration as a case study for general integration trends.
