ABSTRACT
This book focuses on the analysis of the ongoing transformation of the euro area financial system, for which there is still scarce data and assessment as a whole. It serves as a stocktaking exercise and as a source of reference for some of the ongoing research that is conducted both in the Eurosystem at large, and outside it. The book brings together and renders available, a set of comprehensive research and analysis on the diverse features of euro area financial systems. It provides the main economic and financial characteristics of the euro area in comparison with the US and Japan, a comparison of some features of the Eurosystem, the US Federal Reserve System and the Bank of Japan. The book also provides the methodology used when analysing financial integration, and the legal framework supporting financial integration. It refers to one of the cores of the European Central Bank's interest in assessing financial market developments: the integration of the transmission process.
