The wide-ranging content of this book can be seen as a reflection of the academic career of the person it is dedicated to, Eddy Wymeersch. After receiving a Law degree at Ghent University in Belgium and a Master of Laws degree at Harvard Law School in the USA, Eddy Wymeersch ventured into academia as an assistant to Professor Jean Limpens at Ghent University. He briefly worked for the Belgian banking supervisor, then called Banking Commission, but soon left, only to return as the chair of its executive committee in 2001. In 1972 he was appointed professor at the newly established University of Antwerp. In 1984 he returned to his alma mater, Ghent University, to remain there until his retirement in 2008. At Ghent University, Wymeersch and his colleague Guy Schrans founded the Financial Law Institute in 1990, as a research center but also as a forum where (Belgian) academics and practitioners can meet to discuss new developments in company and financial law. Professor Wymeersch is still a source of inspiration to all members of the Institute and we all hope he will continue to stimulate younger members with his direct and critical but always constructive comments.

Speaking and/or reading Dutch, English, French, German and Italian and, being from little, outward-looking Belgium, Wymeersch has always closely monitored legal developments internationally, both in Europe and the USA, at a time when many were only interested in the technical intricacies of their national legal systems.