Subjects:

Banking and Finance

Contents:

Abbreviations

List of figures and tables

Preface

Introduction

Part I. Introduction to Electronic Finance and Internet Banking:

1. Internet banking in Europe: basic concepts and recent trends

2. The legal foundations of electronic banking activities

Part II. Online Banking and International Market Access: The Causes of Incomplete Financial Integration and What To Do About Them:

3. How excessive regulation and legal uncertainty affect cross-border electronic banking and why policy reforms are justified

4. The governance of the European market in cross-border electronic banking activities: why mutual recognition of national laws on the basis of 'home country' control is the best institutional choice

Part III. EU Harmonization and Convergence of National Laws Relating to Electronic Banking Activities:

5. Risks and regulatory concerns relating to electronic banking activities and the convergence of national prudential regulatory standards

6. EU measures of legal harmonization concerning electronic commerce and distance marketing of financial services, data protection, banking contracts and investor protection

Part IV. Applicable Law and Allocation of Regulatory Responsibility in Cross-border Electronic Banking Activities:

7. Cross-border Internet banking and the principle of 'home country' control in the EU financial services directives

8. Mutual recognition of national laws under the principle of 'country of origin' of the Electronic Commerce Directive

9. Applicable law and jurisdiction in cross-border electronic banking contracts

Conclusions

Select bibliography.

The European Union has long sought to create a single financial area across Europe where consumers in one country benefit from financial markets and activities in other countries. With the emergence of the Internet as a platform for the provision of online banking services, the creation of a pan-European market for banking services appeared a realistic proposition. In practice, however, this has not happened.

This book asks why and argues that the creation of banking markets via the Internet relies on both available technologies and appropriate laws and regulations. The institutional and legal framework for online banking services in the single European market are examined, as is the level of legal harmonization achieved in the UK, France and Germany under the influence of the EU Directives pertaining to online banking activities.

• The first empirical survey of commercial practices in the field of online banking in Europe
• Up-to-date, comprehensive overview of the legal aspects of providing banking services via the Internet in the Single European Market
• Presents an original argument that draws on legal theory, financial law and regulation, international economics, international political economy, history and practice of European economic integration