While some may claim that the European debt crisis is over, manyEuropean legislative instruments directed at crisis management inthe banking sector, including Banking Union legislation, are stillpending enactment. These legislative instruments, once enacted,will bring about an unprecedented harmonization of European bankinsolvency law. Also, a multitude of legal disputes followingthe nationalization of SNS Reaal, the fourth largest bank in theNetherlands, in February 2013, are still unresolved.On 23 May 2013, the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law at LeidenLaw School and the Netherlands Association for Comparative andInternational Insolvency Law (NACIIL) organized a conferenceon the highly topical theme of recovery and resolution of creditinstitutions and investment firms. The key question to whichanswers were sought during this conference was: `Which rulesshould govern banks in difficulties? This question has also beenthe Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Laws research theme for the pasttwo years.The Hazelhoff Financial Law Series intends to deepen and furtherthe debate on topical issues of financial law. It represents key resultsof the work of the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law at Leiden LawSchool. We understand financial law to encompass, inter alia, thelegal aspects of financial supervision, the organization, functioningand regulation of financial markets, securities and finance transactions,market abuse, payments and payment systems, duties ofcare in the banking sector and bank insolvency. Another keycharacteristic of the work of the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Lawis our focus on the international dimension of financial law. Shouldyou share our enthusiasm in any of these areas of the law, we areconfident that you will find much of interest in the present volume.