This book offers a holistic approach to the level playing field concept that takes into account six regulatory objectives of the European financial services regulatory framework for banks and non-banks. These intermediate objectives are: (i) facilitating market access by non-banks to provide payment services; (ii) safeguarding the security of the payments market; (iii) safeguarding the integrity of the payments market; (iv) enhancing consumer protection in case of an unauthorised or erroneous payments; (v) allowing non-banks access to payment systems; and (vi) facilitating collaboration between competing payment service providers to develop standards for the payments market that reflect the interests of both banks and non-banks. The book discusses the rules and regulations covering these intermediate objectives to determine the extent to which there is a level playing field between banks and non-banks. In addition, the book provides high-level summaries of competition law requirements and related case law, and will be of interest to researchers, academics, and financial law practitioners.