About the GCEFSL

Financial services, such as payment, credit, investment, and insurance, have become an essential part of the everyday life of EU citizens. Such services allow citizens to meet their essential needs, such as having a home or sufficient income after retirement, and to fully participate in society. In mobilizing savings and allocating investment, financial services are also highly important for the EU economy. The recent financial crisis has highlighted, however, that in order to be able to fulfil their functions, financial services must be sustainable, i.e. meet both the short- and long-term needs of individual consumers and societies at large in terms of access, choice, and protection against overindebtedness.

The Groningen Centre for European Financial Services Law (GCEFSL) within the Faculty of Law aims to promote high-quality research with a view to ensuring the sustainability of financial services in the EU and beyond. The GCEFSL distinguishes itself by studying financial regulation in the broader context of the well-established legal disciplines (in particular, administrative law, private law, and EU law) and in cooperation with other academic disciplines (in particular, economics, psychology, and ethics). GCEFSL researchers also engage in comparative law research and actively contribute to national and international scholarly and policy debates that bridge the jurisdictional and disciplinary divides. Particular emphasis is put on cross-cutting issues concerning client/consumer protection in financial services, public and private enforcement of financial regulation, and the interplay between different systems of governance in rule-making and enforcement in the financial services field.

On 30 September 2016 the GCEFCL held its inaugural conference. For more information, please see the conference report.