What I mean by financial integration is the establishment of a fully integrated market, in which all potential market participants with the same relevant characteristics face a single set of rules, have equal market access and are treated equally when they are active in the market.
This is most evident from the fact that during the three-year period from mid-2001 to mid-2004 unit labour costs in the euro area increased on average by around 2% per annum, while they slightly decreased in the US over the same period (after having increased substantially in 2000).