1/4  rules applicable to financial institutions, especially those operating on a cross-border basis. It also involves the pursuit of synergies among the several EU public policies applicable to the financial sector, notably financial services, consumer and competition policies.
If this process is successful, responsibility for promoting financial integration will then chiefly lie with financial institutions themselves, which should exploit the framework promoted by public authorities to expand their activity across borders. In this context, I would emphasise that this is also dependent on the ability of the financial industry to coordinate its members effectively whenever common initiatives are needed.