This book offers a holistic approach to the level playing field concept that takes into account six regulatory objectives of the European financial services regulatory framework for banks and non-banks. These intermediate objectives are: (i) facilitating market access by non-banks to provide payment services; (ii) safeguarding the security of the payments market; (iii) safeguarding the integrity of the payments market; (iv) enhancing consumer protection in case of an unauthorised or erroneous payments; (v) allowing non-banks access to payment systems; and (vi) facilitating collaboration between competing payment service providers to develop standards for the payments market that reflect the interests of both banks and non-banks. The book discusses the rules and regulations covering these intermediate objectives to determine the extent to which there is a level playing field between banks and non-banks. In addition, the book provides high-level summaries of competition law requirements and related case law, and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and financial law practitioners.

Jan A. Jans is a specialist in financial regulatory law with a focus on the regulatory framework covering banks, insurance companies, payment service providers, investment firms and investment funds. Prior to joining Regulatory Counsel I Financial Services as partner in 2022, Dr. Jans has been working as a financial regulatory lawyer at Linklaters LLP. He graduated from Nijmegen University in 2008. In addition to law, he studied financial economics and business administration. He completed the post-academic education Securities Law at the Grotius Academy in 2012. Dr. Jans publishes regularly in national law journals.