During the last three decades, technological and regulatory evolutions have caused important strategic and behavioural changes in the banking sector. A analysis of the different establishments existing in European countries, both on a historical and terminological level will enable a better understanding of this new system.

The introduction of the euro as the single currency in many European countries has renewed the debate on the harmonisation of the European Stock markets. Banks and financial markets interact in the financing of projects for business. But the internationalised activities of banking companies can have destabilising effects for the system and have contributed in to the emergence of systemic risk, which will need to be controlled by the new European framework.

The European Union is now composed of 25 member countries. Are the Central and Eastern European Countries following a similar trend in regard to banking integration? What is the possible evolution of professional banking techniques?

• Introduction
• Agency theory and the monitoring role of banking structures: a theoretical empirical interpretation
• European banking systems: historical and terminological aspects
• European banking integration: a complex process
• Banks, financial markets and the financing of firms in Europe: an empirical analysis of balance sheet neutrality
• Europe's banks in today's world: the emergence of systemic risk
• The European Central Bank: roles and limits
• Future prospects for banking in an enlarged European Union
• Conclusion: The banking profession in the XXI century: are banks on the decline?
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Index