Financial Services Integration In East Asia: Lessons From The European Union

Economic integration in the European Union1 has, arguably, been one of the most significant developments in the global economy in the last half-century. How could countries that just a few decades earlier were at war and culturally disjointed now aim at closer economic and political integration, and appear en route to forming one virtual "Country" under a proposed European Constitution? The formation of the European Union, the adoption of the single currency, and many other erstwhile targets that were deemed "Too difficult", but which are now realities, have proved many skeptics wrong.