By Patrick Bartlett BBC News Europe business correspondent

Leading financial experts are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to ensure the European Union (EU) learns the lessons of recent corporate scandals in America.

It is the first time regulators and industry officials from all sectors of the EU's financial system -- banking, insurance and stock markets -- have held such a brainstorming session.

They are focusing on ways of avoiding European versions of the recent US corporate scandals.

In addition, they will search for ways to protect Europe's financial markets if a similar scandal was to cause the collapse of a large company.

"It is going to be an exchange of views rather than a meeting which comes up with any specific decision," said one participant.

It could happen here

The meeting has been convened by the EU's Internal Market Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein.

He said recently it would be foolish to believe that an Enron or WorldCom disaster could not happen in Europe.

The officials will help the Commission assess the strength of the EU's financial regulation and whether additional safeguards are needed.

Some policy-makers fear the wide differences in regulatory regimes in the fifteen Member States could make it difficult to cope with a major crisis.

Fraud fears

Mr Bolkestein, the EU's Internal Market Commissioner, has warned governments and regulators against complacency.

As well as corporate frauds, he is concerned about repeats of previous European scams involving pensions and mortgage miss-selling and pyramid savings schemes.

For the past three years, the EU has been working on an ambitious plan to build a pan-European financial market.

Those efforts are now being redoubled.

Behind closed doors

The EU has already adopted rules requiring all listed companies to use International Accounting Standards by 2005.

To reduce the scope for Enron-style fraud, the authorities in Brussels have issued a code of conduct for auditors, with a recommendation that staff be rotated at least every seven years.

And to improve corporate governance, the Commission has asked a high-level committee to examine management pay, the role of non-executive directors, and companies' presentation of financial information.

Brussels also hopes the US scandals will reinvigorate stalled efforts to agree an EU-wide company-takeover code.

Mr Bolkestein decided to hold the brainstorming session behind closed doors.

"When regulators meet together they want to be able to discuss things frankly and among themselves," said Mr Bolkestein's spokesman.