Anglo-French Committee response to Capital Markets Union consultation

Published 13 May 2015

The Anglo-French Committee welcomes this initiative by the European Commission to look at ways of further integrating Europe’s financial markets in order to promote jobs and economic growth. The financial services sector in Europe is fundamental to bridge the gap between corporates and investors in order to unlock investment for companies and ensure that savers can invest for their future prosperity.

The aim of the Capital Markets Union, in our view, should be, on the one hand, to improve the availability of capital market funding for medium-sized firms, both by easing access to finance and by increasing the pool of capital, and on the other hand, to improve the range of market-based products for consumers.

In order to achieve this, consideration needs to be given to how to remove both internal and external barriers to cross-border investment, as well as how to improve the competitiveness of the European financial services industry globally.