ABSTRACT
Although it is manufacturing industries which have been most extensively analysed in relation to the likely impact of the single market (for example, Buigues, Ilzkowitz and LeBrun 1990, Mayes 1991; or, at a regional level, Quévit 1992), some of the most profound changes will occur in the services sectors, and especially in financial services. Despite the difficulties which emerged in the process of ratification of the Maastricht agreement, the integration of the financial services sector will be given an additional impetus by the move towards monetary union (Giovannini and Mayer 1991). The advent of the single market can be expected to affect not only the spatial allocation of activity and employment in the sector, but also the quality, price and availability of services in different localities. This will have a number of consequences for the different regions and cities of the EC and will lead to competition between regions for shares of this key sector of activity.
