ABSTRACT
Yet equivalent standards also have some drawbacks. First, fi nancial markets on both sides are fundamentally different in structure, meaning that it is not easy to fi nd issues that are of comparable importance. Moreover, EU fi nancial markets are still largely fragmented and consolidated at the national level, meaning that the benefi ts of the Single Market still have not been realized within the EU. Second, the process may be seen as a way to reduce regulatory competition, which could limit the benefi ts of equivalence.
