What should happen is that national and regional efforts should be consolidated under the umbrella of a common European strategy to deepen and modernise the internal market for financial services. I firmly believe that digitalisation holds the key to our success. We are all familiar with examples of how smart digital applications have helped to make buying and selling more transparent (e.g.
comparison websites), to break down language barriers (e.g. translation services), to overcome information problems and to build trust (blockchain applications). Ultimately, the continental financial centres need a strong digital market infrastructure that makes full use of all new digital possibilities. Only then they can effectively overcome fragmentation.