Even in those Member States not yet part of the Eurozone, such as Sweden, many exchanges and investment service providers have moved to pricing in Euro. Today I am told that just over one percent of transactions in the EU are carried out in Euro. In a year's time it will be one hundred percent in the Eurozone. But these changes have also made it painfully clear that we are not yet where we want to be. In spite of our efforts, the European financial markets remain fragmented.
Prices differ widely for the same financial products depending on where they are offered.
Supplementary pension funds cannot operate on a cross-border level. There is not yet a single set of accounting standards which can be used in each member state. Issuers raising capital have to provide different prospectuses for different member states in different languages. This forms altogether a cocktail of unnecessary, useless and costly complexity - Kafka plus the Tower of Babel, shaken and stirred. Consumers do not dare or do not have the knowledge to benefit from cross border services.