Securities markets:
First meeting of the Monitoring Group

The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission have welcomed the first meeting of the Inter-institutional Monitoring Group for securities markets on 7 October. The group is composed of six independent experts, two nominated by each institution. It has a mandate to assess the progress made on implementing the "Lamfalussy process" (see SMN 29) which aims to create a more efficient system for the EU institutions to prepare, adopt and implement new legislation to integrate securities markets. The group should also identify any possible bottlenecks in this process. The group is expected to report results twice a year, with its first report in Spring 2003.

The members nominated by the European Parliament are:

• Mr Graham Bishop (United Kingdom), Consultant for securities markets matters.
• Mr Norbert Walter (Germany), Deutsche Bank and former member of the "Committee of Wise Men" on the Regulation of European Securities Markets, chaired by Alexandre Lamfalussy.

• Mr Mario Draghi (Italy), Goldman Sachs, former Head of Italian Treasury and former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC).
• Mrs Kari Lotberg (Sweden), Consultant, former State Secretary in the Swedish Ministry of Finance.

• Mr Michel Prada (France), departing President of the Commission des Op?ations de Bourse (COB).
• Mr Walter Van Gerven (Belgium), former Advocate General with the European Court of Justice; Honorary President of the Belgian Banking Commission and former member of the European Banking Advisory Committee.