Preventing Unwanted Imports: the EU Role in Global Banking and Accounting Regulation

The existing global rules for financial market regulation were determined primarily by the United States, Europe and Japan. The European Union is a relative latecomer that is only gradually increasing its role in the global bargaining processes. Its capacity to export EU policy preferences is limited by internal disunity among its member states as well as by frequent differences between the EU and US approaches to financial regulation. At the same time, the EU is powerful enough to avoid unwelcome policy import, without undermining the overall acceptance of global standards of banking and accounting.