The final chapter of this book will discuss the conflict of laws and questions of jurisdiction in contractual matters relating to cross-border electronic banking activities in the single European market. It will be recalled that the single market Directives in the field of financial services and electronic commerce do not regulate the question of which law governs international banking and financial contracts and which court decides international banking and financial contractual disputes in Europe.

The legal and institutional principles of mutual recognition and ‘home country’ control established in the field of financial services by measures such as the Banking Consolidation Directive, the E-Commerce Directive and the Directive on Markets in Financial Instruments (MiFiD) harmonize important aspects of economic regulatory law without affecting the conflict of national laws in contractual matters. The scope of application of the Banking Directive and the MiFiD extends almost exclusively to matters of prudential and investor protection regulation and supervision, whereas the E-Commerce Directive expressly exempts the contractual choice of applicable law and contractual matters relating to consumer contracts from the normative impact of the principle of country of origin. Put simply, the contractual aspect of cross-border electronic banking activities, at least with regard to governing law and jurisdiction, remains unaffected by EU policies in the field of financial services and electronic commerce and subject to the general law relating to the conflict of laws and jurisdiction, primarily the Rome Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations and the Brussels Regulation.