The takeover of the German bank Commerzbank by the Italian bank Unicredit would constitute “an operation that would take place within the banking union” in the euro area, noted the Chair of the Single Resolution Board (SRB), Dominique Laboureix, on Monday 23 September at the European Parliament.
Mr Laboureix also noted that the two banks in question, by virtue of their size, are already subject to the same single banking supervision and resolution authorities. We know them well because we are working together to draw up their resolution plan in the event of default, he said in response to a question from Jónas Fernández (S&D, Spanish), during a debate in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.
The Chair of the SRB also seemed to consider that the implementation of such a cross-border operation is the logical consequence of the banking union and should not raise any particular questions. “For us, borders are not so relevant as we’re implementing the same rules within the banking union”, he said.
On Monday, Unicredit announced that it had increased its shareholding in Commerzbank from 9% to 21%, and that it had asked the European Central Bank, acting as the single banking supervisor, for authorisation to increase its stake to 29.9%, just below the 30% shareholding threshold beyond which it would have to make a takeover bid.
Speaking from New York, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the German government would oppose “hostile attacks [that] are not good for the banks”, AFP reported.
CMDI. Questioned by Markus Ferber (EPP, German) and Gilles Boyer (Renew Europe, French), Mr Laboureix reiterated the importance for the European legislator to introduce “flexibilities” to facilitate the financing of a bank resolution in the future regulatory framework for banking crisis management (‘CMDI’ package), which will be the subject of inter-institutional negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (see EUROPE 13482/4).
“The more ex-ante restrictions are imposed on us (for instance on the DGS bridge financing), the harder it is to deliver on our mandate of financial stability”, said Mr Laboureix. And he went on to ask whether we would be able to achieve the desired results if the SRB is asked to comply with “the 22 conditions introduced by the Council of the EU under extreme time pressure?”
With regard to the work programme of the European authority responsible for resolving bank failures, the Chairman of the SRB also estimated that the banks falling within the scope of the banking union had raised ‘MREL’ capital that could be mobilised in the event of failure, amounting to 27% of risk-weighted banking assets. From now on, noted Mr Laboureix, the aim is no longer to increase this proportion, but to make it possible to mobilise these assets in the event of resolution. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)