Brussels, 29/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 28 May, the European Commission decided to send reasoned opinion warning letters to eleven member states that have not yet fully implemented EU directive 2014/50 on bank recovery and resolution (the BRRD) that came into force on 1 January 2015.
The eleven countries, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Romania and Sweden, now have two months to comply with the EU rules, failing which they may be sent to the European Court of Justice.
The directive in question requires European banks to draw up living wills in cooperation with the bank supervisory body setting out measures to be taken in the event of distress or failure. Member states are required to set up a bank resolution fund and bail-in rules to apply from 1 January 2016 to ensure that bank lenders and shareholders are the first in line to pay up in the event of a bank collapse, ahead of savers with more than €100,000 in the bank (see EUROPE 11284 and 11272). (Mathieu Bion)