The economic impact of European financial integration: The importance of the banking union

The aim of the paper is to analyze the effect of European financial integration on economic growth. We focus on how the international financial crisis that started in 2007 has affected integration and growth. By combining information at country, sector and firm level, we quantify the effect of financial integration on financial development and therefore on economic growth. Our results illustrate that until the outbreak of the crisis, a significant part of financial development is attributable to progress in integration, with a positive contribution of around 0.04 pp to the EU-15 countries’ GDP growth over the period 1999–2007 of advance in integration. However, during the crisis, the decrease in the degree of integration has had a negative impact on financial development and economic growth. Consequently, the European banking union is essential given the economic benefits associated with financial integration.