The European Commission will tomorrow unveil broader pan-EU laws against insider trading, the first step towards the creation of a fully integrated financial market, according to a Commission spokesman.

The Commission - the European Union's executive - will also put forward new criteria for the adoption of pan-European company prospectuses, calling on companies to provide comparable data to investors when they raise new capital on security markets throughout the EU.

"It [the legislation] is due on Wednesday along with the proposal on prospectuses," said Commission spokesman Mr Jonathan Todd.

The new legislation is aimed at toughening the existing EU rules on insider trading by tackling a broader range of market wrongdoings.

The Commission's proposals will mark the first step within a wide-ranging reform of the EU financial sector with the aim of forging an integrated EU financial market by 2005.

The euro's launch in 1999 created a single European capital market, but the region remains divided in terms of securities laws and accounting practices.