Financial Consumer Protection in the U.S. and the E.U.: A Preventive Building Block of Banking Bailout Law

Abstract

This article evaluates the post-2008 legal/regulatory framework of financial consumer protection in the U.S. and the E.U. and argues that financial consumer protection is not sufficiently robust to have a significantly positive impact on financial stability. To turn this around, the article proposes a novel analysis of financial consumer protection and the strengthening of financial consumer protection with a broader, systemic stability-based argument, rather than a narrower, primarily competition law-based argument. This article proposes a more encompassing consumer protection definition, a catalog of chief areas and tools, and a more interdisciplinary approach in this new era that emphasizes the importance of financial education and international collaboration.

Keywords: Financial Consumer Protection, Financial Stability, Bailout, Financial Education, Financial Literacy, International Consumer Protection, E.U. Financial Consumer Protection, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Dodd-Frank Act