The regulation of network industries has emerged as a key issue on the European policy agenda, yet there is little high-quality research capable of informing the European policy debate. The Monitoring European Deregulation (MED) series was launched by CEPR and SNS in 1997 and features new, policy-oriented research on the liberalization of the European markets of the major network industries (previous reports have focused on telecommunications and electricity). Addressed to a wide audience of both academics and European decisionmakers in the private-sector and policy communities, at both the national and EU level, the new report--which focuses on the deregulation of the European banking system--will play an important role in influencing current thinking on these issues and contributing to the policy debate.