ABSTRACT
Financial integration in Europe began several decades ago, in 1957, with the Treaty of Rome, which already contained the basic principles for the creation of single European market for financial services. The adoption of the common currency in 1999 was a major impetus for further financial integration in the European Union (Liebscher et al., 2006). With all the theoretical and empirical evidences, the issue of the euro undoubtedly offered a strong motivation for the procedure because a single currency is an important component of a common financial system and a strong promoter of financial integration (Jikang and Xinhui, 2004).
