Review of the Bank crisis management and deposit insurance framework

Key points

The EESC:

• appreciates the Commission's proposal, as a step towards the completion of the Banking Union;
• believes that the recent banking crises highlight the importance of speedy and flexible action, as well as to quickly organise the transfer of a troubled bank to another bank;
• appreciates the proposal for an extended and more harmonised protection of depositors;
• understands the intention to broaden the application of banking resolution, along with the proposed approach, the context, its regulatory rationale and the long-term objectives;
• points to the need for a pragmatic and flexible approach for each crisis in terms of the regulatory approach, selection of tools, implications of the response, cooperation between stakeholders, execution speed, and nature of the financial resources used;
• believes that when resolution may be more expensive than liquidation, an insolvency procedure should be triggered;
• agrees that the public interest assessment could be refined, and encourages the co-legislators to find solutions that minimize legal uncertainty, striking a balance between flexibility and predictability;
• deems it necessary to strike a balance between an enhanced formulation of the public interest assessment and the proportionality of its application to small, medium-sized and local banks, to minimize uncertainty and the potential harm to their interest;
• believes that the entire CMDI package should be properly coordinated with the expected revision of the 2013 Communication on State Aid to avoid potential inconsistencies;
• sees the enhanced transfer tool using Deposit Guarantee Schemes and the Single Resolution Fund as a step towards the European Deposit Insurance Scheme, but considers that inefficiencies will persist until the Banking Union is complete.