Banking law and capital market law comprise two areas of law that are not uniformly regulated and often overlap and which can be assigned to both civil commercial law and a sub-area of public commercial law.
Banking law regulates the legal relationships between banks/credit institutions, in particular the everyday banking and lending transactions between a bank and its customers. Banking law and capital market law therefore cover, for example, private checking and payment transactions, but also the lending or investment sectors of banks.
Capital market law primarily regulates the organization of capital markets. A capital market is a marketplace where companies (capital takers) and investors (capital providers) are brought together, such as the stock exchange. Capital market law particularly affects the trading of securities such as shares and bonds that takes place there. The main purpose of capital market law is to maintain the functionality of the capital market, but capital market law also serves, in particular, to protect individual investors.
The legal provisions on state supervision of the credit and financial services sector as part of public law can also be assigned to banking law and capital market law.
The main pieces of legislation in the area of banking law and capital market law are:
- Stock Exchange Act (BörsG)
- Depot law
- Check Act (CheckG)
- Financial Services Supervision Act (FinDAG)
- Investmentgesetz (InvG)
- Banking Act (KWG)
- Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act and Securities Trading Act (WpÜG, WpHG)
- Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG)
Banking law and capital market law is a very extensive and complex area of law, which is why if you have any problems, you should consult a lawyer who specializes in banking law and capital market law.
On the following pages we will try to provide you with as much information as possible about the basic principles of banking law and capital market law.
We also recommend the following pages on the subject of banking law and capital market law:
- www.bafin.de Website of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority
- Widerruf.eu Website with information on revoking credit agreements