As single supervisor of the major bank groups of the Eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) is within its rights directly to supervise the Landeskreditbank Baden-Württember-Förderbank, the investment and development bank of the German Land of Baden-Württemberg, the General Court of the EU said in a judgement returned on Tuesday 16 May (case T-122/15).
As part of banking union in the Eurozone, the ECB directly supervises nearly 120 large bank groups. These are selected on the basis of the following criteria laid down in the regulation (1024/2013) instituting the single surveillance mechanism: - value of assets above €30 billion; - share of total assets to GDP above 20%; - scale of cross-border activities (see EUROPE 10920).
The General Court notes that the value of the German bank's assets is above €30 billion. It states that the direct supervision of smaller entities by the national authorities results from a decentralised application of the exclusive competence of the ECB. Additionally, the bank has not argued that the German authorities would be best placed to guarantee the coherent application of the bank prudential rules.
Consequently, the Court has rejected the appeal brought by Landeskreditbank Baden-Württember-Förderbank against its subjection to the direct supervision of the ECB. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)