The financial activity in all its diversity and complexity is subject to an elaborate system of regulation and supervision. It is one of the most heavily regulated industries in our economies, as it touches on so many interests, whether at the individual level, or as part of the functioning of our economic systems and more generally, in today's worldwide economic and political relations. Interdependence of these different levels of regulation is an important feature and requires regulatory conditions to be analysed from different perspectives. The analysis should therefore first deal with the objectives of financial regulation in general, to be further supplemented and detailed with respect to the specific objectives in the European financial markets.