Regulatory convergence in EU securities regulation

The aim of the thesis is to map out and critically discuss the very recent phenomenon of "regulatory convergence" in EU securities regulation. "Regulatory convergence" is a new development in EU governance in financial services and markets regulation following the Financial Services Action Plan 1999 and the Lamfalussy Report of 2001. Regulatory convergence has 2 aspects, i.e. "regulatory" and "convergence". The thesis suggests that the "regulatory" aspect may be looked at in 4 parts, namely the source of regulation, the administration of regulation, the supervision of regulation, and the enforcement of the regulation. The thesis maps out and critically discusses each area of regulatory convergence in EU securities regulation, and the methodologies employed by policy and law-makers in securing convergence, which include EU legislation, Commission legislation and "soft law" produced by the Committee of European Securities Regulators. In particular, a cybernetic model of analysis is applied to discuss each aspect of regulation, and the methodologies used in securing "convergence". The application of the cybernetic model of analysis to the 4 aspects of regulatory convergence allows the drawing of some conclusions about the prospects of regulatory convergence. The thesis also examines whether and to what extent, there is an EU level regulatory system for EU securities regulation, and in the absence of such an EU level system for securities regulation, what forces or incentives would induce Member States to adopt divergent national regulation. The final chapter of the thesis explores theoretical frameworks in organisation theory to suggest how creating an EU agency for securities regulation may address the deficits in the current framework for securing regulatory convergence and lead the way forward to a cybernetically sufficient system for regulatory convergence in EU securities regulation.