![A half-finished job: The EU’s financial services action plan A half-finished job: The EU’s financial services action plan](https://www.cer.eu/sites/default/files/styles/spotlight/public/images/spotlight/publication/financial_wharf_sl-1341843459.jpg?itok=SKrzjN5I)
A half-finished job: The EU’s financial services action plan
At the Lisbon summit in March 2000, EU heads of government signed up to an ambitious programme designed to achieve a viable single market in financial services by 2005. The financial services action plan (FSAP) is an attempt to reduce the legal obstacles which still prevent businesses – whether retail banks, insurance companies or stock exchanges – from selling their wares seamlessly across the EU.