Governing finance in Europe: discussion and conclusion

In this book we have raised the question of whether and why the governance of financial markets has led to a centralisation, decentralisation or fragmentation of regulatory structures in Europe. We developed hypothetical answers to this question from four research perspectives: European legislation in the context of international agreements; international competition between regulatory powers; the interaction between private self-regulation and public regulation; and technological (digital) innovation of financial instruments. This concluding chapter serves to summarise our empirical findings in the light of the relevant hypotheses, refine the explanations if necessary and draw links between the arguments of the individual chapters. Going beyond the strict scope of our present theoretically guided empirical investigation, we also raise questions concerning the political and legal accountability of the regulatory structures we have found, and propose research questions to be theoretically and empirically investigated in future research.