-The Group focused its discussions on two specific day-to-day issues facing corporate clients engaged in cross-border business in the EU:
opening a current (corporate) account in more than one Member State, and
operating that account as efficiently and economically as possible through ‘cash pooling’.
The Group reached three main conclusions:
In practice many obstacles persist to the successful implementation of what at first sight may appear to be a relatively straightforward service such as crossborder account opening and cash pooling. These impediments arise mainly from the diverse historic nature of the Member States resulting in a plethora of different legal standards, customs and practice. It follows that they will continue even after introduction of euro notes and coin. They raise real inefficiencies and add costs for European business, affecting its competitiveness. Economic operators will not understand that, despite a single currency, standard but important financial services at a national level such as account opening and cash pooling cannot be provided on a crossborder basis, particularly within the EMU zone where the same currency exists.
The actions which banks and other financial institutions can take to overcome such issues is limited by the legal, tax and regulatory environment within which they operate.
To overcome the problems identified, action by the financial sector requires a more cross border friendly infrastructural framework which can only be achieved at governmental level.
In addition to these two specific issues the Group considered certain more general impediments for an efficient internal market for financial services for corporate clients: the use of electronic signatures, discrepancies in bankruptcy laws, central bank reporting requirements, prudential regulatory inconsistencies and taxation. These issues are considered and described in a more general manner in this overview without specific proposals for action.
See full paper
See also the corresponding issue paper
© European Commission
Key
Hover over the blue highlighted
text to view the acronym meaning
Hover
over these icons for more information
Comments:
No Comments for this Article