Financial services and consumer protection

This chapter gives a bird's eye overview of EU financial services regulation.The first part gives a brief map of the areas of law – public, private, self-regulation – in which EU financial services regulation is situated. Part two discusses one of the goals of EU financial services law, which is to create access to finance. The other goal, substantive consumer protection, is dealt with in parts three and four with specific focus on consumer credit and investment. Part five considers the question to what extent EU legislation on consumer credit and investment, which is aimed at ‘full harmonization’, prevents further regulation through private law in the national laws of the Member States. The chapter closes with an outlook to future legislative initiatives and an assessment of the post-crisis attitude of the EU legislature to regulation in the consumer financial services market.