Fragmentation in financial markets has been identified as a major barrier to more efficient EU capital markets. This event is an initial fact‑finding opportunity, allowing us to engage – primarily with industry across the financial landscape but also with supervisors and investors – and get their views on how integrated they think EU capital markets are. The event will bring together investment funds, infrastructure operators and other market players.

Consolidation is understood as a primarily market-driven process, which EU legislation could facilitate by removing obstacles and providing incentives. This workshop should help us identify barriers to consolidation, both at the level of integration of market infrastructures and of consolidation and scaling up of investment funds in the EU.

Regarding the integration of market infrastructures, the discussion will cover various market segments – exploring the potential benefits, challenges, and the regulatory landscape.

Speakers will also discuss the role of investment funds in making the EU economy more competitive, particularly by fostering investment in innovative companies. This can be difficult to achieve given the level of fragmentation in the investment funds market. The event should therefore help us identify barriers to the consolidation and scaling up of investment funds, including venture capital and private equity funds.

This discussion will be framed by the objectives of the capital markets union (CMU) project and the future development of the European savings and investment union in the context of the broader goal of enhancing EU competitiveness.

In this context, the Commission has also recently launched a study on “consolidation and reducing fragmentation in trading and post-trading infrastructures in Europe and on the scaling up of funds investing in innovative and growth firms”.

Registration for this event is now closed.

However, anyone is welcome to follow the event online via the webstreaming link below.

The event will be web streamed. The web stream links will be available here soon.