BANKING AND FINANCIAL MARKETS LAW

The course is one of the elective educational activities of the Master Degree in Global Development and Entrepreneurship, curriculum Enterpreneurship.
The course is part of the Jean Monnet Chair in Digitalisation in EU Financial Studies (EUDIFIN).
The EUDIFIN Chair contributes to the political and scholarly debate revolving around the challenges the European Union faces to make a proper use of financial innovation to further market integration and risk sharing in the internal financial market (both key objectives of the drive to build the Capital Markets Union). The Chair aims to integrate such cutting-edge developments into three courses: “International Financial regulation”, “Banking and Financial Markets Law”, and “FinTech Law and Financial Innovation” (36 hours each = 30h “foundational” lectures + 6h “in focus” lectures).
The three courses hence branch out three trajectories, which are projected at: i) studying the revolutionary changes in the structure of financial markets and how they relate to the general framework and the principles that govern EU financial law and supervision (institutional trajectory); ii) deepening the studies relating to the regulatory objectives of EU financial law, supervisory and regulatory powers and financial integration. It will do so by dealing with the EU market integration legislative initiatives vis-à-vis the break-throughs in data processing and sharing technology (substantive trajectory); and iii) addressing the increasing labour market demand for professional expertise in the ambit of advanced data analytics and cloud computing and their application to financial markets and financial products (methodological trajectory).

“Banking and Financial Markets Law” addresses the “substantive” level of EU financial and banking law – that is the rules projected at realising the single market.
The course aims, first, to analyse whether and how the financial regulatory objectives are influenced by financial innovation (namely financial stability, consumer protection and market integrity). Second, it aims to study thoroughly the substantive areas and rules affected by digitalisation and innovation, i.e. retail financial services, cross-border payments consumer and mortgage credits, and AML legislation.
This course deals with a very timely topic. On the one hand, new financial innovations and new market entrants (e.g. FinTech companies) prompt policy makers to question the scope of the regulatory objectives of consumer protection and financial stability respectively. On the other, brand-developments in IT bring up risks (i.e. cyber security) that have only recently materialised.

1. Knowledge and understanding
1.1 Knowledge of the legal framework relating to the banking activity
1.2 Knowledge and analysis of anti-money laundering policies and laws.
1.3 Knowledge and analysis of banking contracts.

2. Applied skills of knowledge and understanding
2.1 Ability to understand the functioning of the banking business.
2.2 Ability to identify the differences between the types of banking contracts.
2.3 Ability to understand how economic crimes work and what policies are in place.

3. Evaluation
3.1 Understanding of the text of the law.
3.2 Ability to appraise complex circumstances and their legal consequences.
3.3 Capability of balancing the different interests concerning the different banking contracts.

4. Communication skills
4.1 Ability to express using the legal terms properly.
4.2 Critical and dialogical interaction with the examiners during the examination.

This course builds upon the knowledge gained in Business law

1. The Financial Markets: Introduction - 2. The Banking Union: Glimpses 3. General profiles of banking contracts and services of investment firms. - 4. Customer protection and transparency legislation. - 5. Banking operations. - 6. Payment systems - 7.Anti-money laundering legislation

Alexander, K. (2019). Principles of Banking Regulation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108551557 + additional material
Additional learning material will be posted on Moodle platform.

Written examination 70% + research paper 30%

Lectures and seminars (active participation)

English

written