Recital 20

(20)The authorisations granted to credit institutions by the competent national authorities pursuant to this Directive have Community-wide, and no longer merely nationwide, application. Existing reciprocity clauses have therefore no effect. A flexible procedure is therefore needed to make it possible to assess reciprocity on a Community basis. The aim of this procedure is not to close the Community's financial markets but rather, as the Community intends to keep its financial markets open to the rest of the world, to improve the liberalisation of the global financial markets in other third countries. To that end, this Directive provides for procedures for negotiating with third countries and, as a last resort, for the possibility of taking measures involving the suspension of new applications for authorisation or the restriction of new authorisations.