*  *  *  Introduction Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank the European Institute for inviting me to share with you some thoughts on the financial integration process, both within the euro area and between the euro area and the rest of the world. I will structure my remarks into two parts.
In the first part, I will elaborate on the regional dimension of European financial integration. After stressing the importance of financial integration for economic growth in Europe, I will highlight some of the main achievements of European financial integration thus far, as well as the challenges still facing us.