Brussels, 12/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has launched a public consultation process, to run until 30 September 2007, on directive 2004/21/EC on reorganisation and winding up of credit institutions. The Commission is seeking to analyse whether the European legislation has fully achieved its goals or whether there remain any gaps or ambiguities.
Under directive 2001/24/EC, reorganising and winding up of credit institutions have to be carried out according to the principles of unity and universality. These principles guarantee that there is only one set of insolvency proceedings, in which the credit institution should be treated as one entity, no matter where its assets are located. In other words, the directive prohibits ring fencing during the procedures in question in order to avoid discrimination between creditors.
The directive relates only to credit institutions which have branches. The consultation paper seeks opinions on the inclusion of collective investment institutions and cross-border banking groups. It asks interested parties about how to deal with problems related to the transfer of assets within such banking groups. The consultation paper is available at:
http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_market/bank/windingup/index_en.htm (mb)