Confidentiality and information in the field of financial services

Abstract

The development of the EC's internal market, particularly that of the single market in financial services, has brought about a change in the way that the obligation of confidentiality is perceived. In view of the increasing tendency of a number of businesses to operate across borders, regulatory authorities started finding it increasingly difficult to effectively supervise their activities without any form of cooperation with their foreign counterparts, in particular through the exchange of information. Cooperation was however often hindered by different regimes of professional secrecy, confidentiality and data protection, thus prompting intervention at a European level in order to create minimum standards that would allow information to be exchanged without hindrance, irrespective of whether the information related to natural or legal persons. Public interests require that the obligation of confidentiality is subject to a number of limitations. In addition to not being an absolute obligation, confidentiality is also a dynamic concept: it is inherently flexible and its boundaries are being shifted to fit in the changing social and economic circumstances of our times.