Jan Babecký, Luboš Komárek, Zlatuše Komárková
This article analyses the phenomenon of financial integration on both the theoretical and empirical level, focusing primarily on assessing the impacts of the current financial crisis. In the theoretical section we first look at the definition of financial integration and summarise the benefits and costs associated with this process. We go on to examine the relationship between financial integration and financial (in)stability, emphasising the priority role of financial innovation. The subsequent empirical section provides an analysis of the speed and level of integration of the Czech financial market and the markets of selected inflation-targeting Central European economies (Hungary and Poland) and advanced Western European economies (Sweden and the UK) with the euro area. The results for the Czech Republic reveal that a process of increasing financial integration has been going on steadily since the end of the 1990s and also that the financial crisis caused only temporary price divergence of the Czech financial market from the euro area market.
Issued: June 2010
Download: Thematic article in the Financial Stability Report 2009/2010 (pdf, 142 kB)