This issue of the European Business Organization Law Review is devoted to fundamental problems in the field of retail financial services as have become particularly clear since the recent disruption of the financial markets. Ultimately, these issues lead to line-drawing problems and policy choices about investor and consumer protection which are tackled from a legal and an economic perspective respectively. The articles in this issue have originated from papers and proceedings of the joint IMFS (Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability) and LEMF (Doctorate/PhD Program ‘Law and Economics of Money and Finance’) conference on ‘Retail Financial Services after the Crisis: Legal and Economic Perspectives on Investor and Consumer Protection’, which took place at the House of Finance, Goethe University of Frankfurt on 20 and 21 January 2012.

Motivated by recent policy changes across many countries, this paper discusses the rationale for various policies that target financial advice in the market for retail financial services. To set the stage, we review recent findings on how retail financial consumers make use of professional financial advice. Based on our own research, as well as other recent contributions in the economics literature, we then discuss the pros and cons of, in particular, policies that target the disclosure as well as the size and structure of commissions.

The sale of retail financial products, such as investment funds but also mortgage products, is frequently combined with the provision of advice, which opens up the possibility of unsuitable advice and misselling. The article argues that despite recent legal changes in Europe, such as MiFID, there is still much scope for the improvement of both legal norms and supervisory activity. To obtain a logically consistent and workable framework, consumer protection, both generally and applied to the field of retail finance, must be put on a sound economic basis.

This issue of the European Business Organization Law Review is devoted to the full range of fundamental problems in the field of law and finance. At the same time, it highlights the major disruptions of financial markets at the example of these issues. Ultimately, this raises the forward-looking question about changes for the paradigm in law and economics possibly resulting therefrom. The articles in this issue originate from papers and proceedings of the kick-off conference for the new doctorate and PhD programme at the Goethe University on ‘Law and Economics of Money and Finance in Times of Financial Crisis’, which took place at the House of Finance/Goethe University of Frankfurt on 15 and 16 May 2009. As programme directors and organisers of the conference, we are proud and delighted that so many outstanding scholars from Europe and the United States agreed to present a paper and participate in the ensuing, most lively discussions, thus contributing to a very prolific intellectual exchange and a very successful kick-off of our programme to be launched this fall term.