This book analyzes the legal system for the protection of retail investors under the European Union law of investment services. It identifies the regulatory leitmotiv driving the EU lawmaker and ascertains whether and to what extent such a system is self-sufficient, using a set of EU-made and EU-enforced rules that is essentially different and autonomous from the domestic legal orders. In this regard, the book takes a double perspective: comparative and intra-firm. Given the federal dimension of the US legal system and, thus, the “role-model” it plays vis-à-vis the EU, the book compares the two systems. To fully highlight the existing gaps and measure how self-sufficient the EU system is against its American counterpart, the Union/Federal level as such is analyzed – i.e., detached from the national (in EU terms) and State (in US terms) level. Regulating Investor Protection under EU Law also showcases the unique intra-firm perspective from a European investment firm and analyzes how EU-produced public-law rules become a set of compliance requirements for investment services providers. This “within-the-firm” angle gauges the self-sufficiency of the EU system of retail investor protection from the standpoint of an EU-regulated entity. The book is intended for both compliance professionals and academic scholars interested in this topic while also including illustrative sections intended to provide a broader regulatory view for less-experienced readers.

This book examines the relationship between the EU investor protection regulations enshrined in MiFID and MiFID II and national contract and torts law. It describes how the effect of the conduct of business rules as implemented in national financial supervision legislation in private law extends to the issue of enforcement, and critically assesses this interaction from the perspective of EU law. In particular, the conclusions identified in the book will deepen readers’ understanding of the interplay between the conduct of business rules and private law norms governing a firm’s liability to pay damages, such as duty of care, attributability of damage, causation, contributory negligence and limitation. In turn, the book identifies the subordination and the complementarity model to conceptualise the interaction between the conduct of business rules and private law norms. Moreover, the book challenges the view that civil courts are – or should be – forced to give private law effects to violation of the MiFID and MiFID II conduct of business rules in line with the subordination model. Instead, the complementarity model is advanced as the preferred approach to this interaction in view of what MiFID and MiFID II require from Member States in terms of their implementation, as well as the desirability of each model. This model presupposes that courts should consider the conduct of business rules when adjudicating individual disputes, while preserving the autonomy of private law norms governing liability of investment firms towards clients. Based on analysis of case law of courts in Germany, the Netherlands and England & Wales, as well as scholarly literature, the book also compares the available causes of action, the conditions of liability and the obstacles investors face when claiming damages, as well as how and the extent to which investors can benefit from the conduct of business rules in clearing these obstacles. In so doing, under the approach adopted by national courts to the interplay between the conduct of business rules of EU origin and private law, the book shows how investors can benefit from the influence of these rules on private law norms. In closing, it demonstrates a hybridisation of private law remedies resulting from the accommodation of the conduct of business rules into the private law discourse according to the complementarity model, illustrating how judicial enforcement through private law means may contribute to investor protection.

Retail Depositor and Retail Investor Protection under EU Law offers an original perspective on EU financial law in the area of retail investor protection, examining the status of protection awarded by EU law to retail depositors and retail investors in the event of financial institution failure. The analysis of relevant EU law is on the basis of effectiveness and has been elaborated in two levels of comparison. The first comparative approach examines relevant EU law both externally and internally: externally, vis-à-vis relevant international initiatives and developments in the area of financial law, as the latter affect the features and evolution of EU law, and internally by examining relevant instruments of EU law with regard to each other as to their normative structure and content. The second comparative approach also examines the status of retail depositors in relation to that of retail investors under EU law, in the event of financial institution failure, and the relevant legal consequences thereof.

The expansion of the fund industry has been one of the most notable trends in the financial markets of recent years. Not only has the demand for funds among EU investors grown, but both the number and types of investment funds also continue to increase. Since investment funds available in the EU can be established both inside and outside the EU, they may be subject to different investor protection regulations, depending on where the fund is located. Accordingly, different levels of investor protection may exist between investors investing in EU funds and investors investing in non-EU funds, including US funds. This book investigates whether there is a level playing field between EU investors investing in EU funds and EU investors investing in US funds and if not, if there is a legal basis in current EU law for the EU regulator to adopt additional investor protection rules applying to investment funds. The analysis considers the basic characteristics of investment funds, how they function in practice, and how they are regulated relating to investor protection issues. Factors examined in depth include the following: – features of funds most relevant to the protection of retail investors; – operational structure, investment strategies, fee structure, and legal structure of funds; – internal control systems; – transparency and disclosure rules; – conduct of business rules; and – depositary monitoring rules. The author examines relevant EU directives and rules and the particular remit of each, as well as US law applying to investment funds that are active in the EU. Case law and relevant literature in the field is also drawn on. As an assessment of the current degree of protection applying to funds that are available to EU retail investors – as well as an up-to-date overview of regulatory requirements and procedures concerning the protection of EU investors in investment funds – this book is unsurpassed. Especially valuable is the closing discussion about whether the EU regulatory system provides for a level playing field of protection for EU retail investors, and if not which additional rules can be adopted by the EU regulator in this area. Lawyers and other professionals in all areas of law and policy concerned with investment and finance will find this book of great value.

Since the 17th century, when corporations started to finance their businesses by issuing securities to investors in the open market, the appearance of misleading prospectuses and/or intermediate information to the market has led regulators to promulgate preventive and repressive rules to mitigate such abuses. This occurred both during the South Sea Bubble (1719) and the Great Crash (1929). More recently, the series of corporate scandals (2002-2003) similarly resulted in pressure on regulators and gatekeepers to introduce enhanced investor protection and market regulation, coinciding with the already ongoing worldwide debate on corporate governance. This study focuses on a comparative analysis of the remarkably different regulatory responses that were established on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The book reveals the divergent regulatory policies that were followed to answer the question of whether investors should primarily be protected 'as shareholders' by corporate law or by securities law and market regulation. It offers a useful, analytical, comparative tool for evaluating current corporate and securities law, as well as for assessing the need for, and design of, new regulatory responses. The book will contribute to a better understanding of the key regulatory issues facing lawmakers today. History does not stop and a variety of new questions will ultimately emerge. It underscores that finding clear and efficient regulatory responses to new developments should start with a proper analysis of the aims and means of securities and corporate law.

The spate of mis-selling episodes that have plagued the financial services industries in recent years has caused widespread detriment to investors. Notwithstanding numerous regulatory interventions, curtailing the incidence of poor investment advice remains a challenge for regulators, particularly because these measures are taken in a 'fire-fighting' fashion without adequate consideration being given to the root causes of mis-selling. Against this backdrop, this book focuses on the sale of complex investment products to corporate retail investors by drawing upon the widespread mis-selling of interest rate hedging products (IRHP) in the UK and beyond. It brings to the fore the relatively understudied field concerning the different degrees of investor protection mechanisms applicable to individual retail investors – as opposed to corporate retail investors – by taking stock of past regulatory reforms and forthcoming regulatory initiatives as well as, more importantly, the conclusions reached by the judiciary in IRHP mis-selling claims. The conclusions are particularly interesting: corporate retail investors are in a vulnerable position when compared to individual retail investors. The former are exposed to a heightened risk of mis-selling, meaning that regulatory intervention should be targeted accordingly. The recommendations made as a result of these findings are further supported by insights emerging from behavioural law and economic theories. This book is aimed at researchers, lawyers and students with an interest in the financial regulation field who are keen to explore potential regulatory reforms to the investment services regime that address the root causes of mis-selling, and restore a level playing field amongst all retail investors.

The rapidly growing number of investors’ disputes with states and the approach of arbitral tribunals, perceived by some, whether rightly or not, as being too investor-friendly, underlie a contentious debate about the need to strike a more effective balance between investors’ rights under international investment agreements (IIAs) and the right of states to pursue legitimate regulation in the public interest. In this regard the European Union, with the exclusive external competence in foreign direct investment vested in it under the Lisbon Treaty, is emerging as the leader and driving force in the future development of international investment law. This book examines the competence of the EU to conclude investment treaties in the light of the investment protection rules of IIAs, explores how far the EU regime for cross-border investment and investors’ rights under IIAs can be considered comparable, and brings about an extensive analysis of existing agreements of Member States and their compatibility with EU law, with detailed investigation of how the potentially conflicting obligations of Member States under the two regimes can be reconciled. The book covers such elements of the debate as the following: • ‘standards of treatment’ under IIAs; • investment-related provisions of EU law; • dispute settlement mechanisms and the conduct of investment disputes; • how recent controversies over bilateral investment treaties (BITs) shape emerging EU international investment policy; • effect of political and institutional interests; • transitional arrangements for BITs between Member States and third countries established by Regulation 1219/2012; • CJEU decisions concerning BITs concluded between EU Member States and third countries; • significant arbitral awards involving intra-EU BITs; • allocation of international responsibility for breaches of investors’ rights; • intra-EU dimension of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT); • possibilities for review of arbitral awards by courts of Member States; • desirability of international protection of foreign investment in developed countries; and • role of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention) The author provides a number of well-grounded recommendations, taking into account throughout the legitimate interests and expectations of individual investors. As an invaluable commentary on developments related to the interplay between international investment law and EU law, and a guide to ameliorating the tensions and controversies surrounding this relationship, this book will appeal to a wide variety of readers. The questions dealt with are faced not only by negotiators and others involved in policymaking in the area of foreign investment, but also by specialists in international investment law, investment arbitration, EU international relations law, and anyone involved in cross-border law, as well as others who encounter these questions in the course of their professional or academic activities.