Bank Recovery and Resolution Second Edition Sven Schelo Since 2008, enormous efforts have been made worldwide to draft rules to prevent a reoccurrence of the devastating financial events of that year. In the process, bank business has been laid open to intense public and government scrutiny, and regulation of banking has grown to spectacular proportions. Prominent among the measures taken is the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD), which, together with the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and the Single Resolution Fund, constitutes a crucial new pillar in the European Banking Union. Practitioners searching for orientation in what can readily be perceived as a ‘jungle’ have an urgent need for a clear and systematic description and analysis of these new rules, which are sure to have a massive impact on bank business from this time on, not only in Europe but also wherever European business is to be found. The solidly grounded analysis in this important book sets the new rules under BRRD into their full context as cross-border phenomena. With its crystal-clear explanation of key provisions, procedures, and ‘triggers’, the book organises a highly complex legal system into patterns and action plans that can be applied in virtually any eventuality likely to arise in cases where bank business is of central significance. Among the topics covered are the following: – entities covered by BRRD; – exceptions under BRRD; – objective and scope of BRRD tools – bail-in, bridge bank, sale of business, asset separation; – asset quality reviews; – curing or mitigating the continuing problem of non-performing loans; – new rules as response to lack of private solutions; – banks’ requirement to provide a minimum amount of eligible liabilities; – safety buffers to protect resolution; – need to be ‘resolvable’ in a worst case; – leverage and liquidity ratios; – forced mergers; – market spillover effects of recovery planning; – group recovery planning; – effects of foreign law contracts and assets; – write-down of capital instruments; and – special problems of cross-border restructuring. The presentation is enhanced by a comparative dimension, which includes reference to United States and other national developments and a full-scale analysis of Switzerland’s regulatory response to the crisis. Given that a full seamless global system of bank recovery and resolution has not yet been found, and that major banks are global players headquartered in different jurisdictions and even different continents, this book will greatly assist in the work of practitioners who must deal with cases involving international banking under the prevailing status quo. Its usefulness to officials and academics in international banking and finance law and policy, who are working towards a global solution, is of incalculable value.

The volume is a collection of articles based on presentations given at a conference titled “The Crisis Management Directive – Europe’s Answer for Too Big to Fail?” hosted by the Institute for Law and Finance on May 3, 2012.

The 2007 financial crisis has exposed major weaknesses in global financial systems, including the threat to financial stability posed by banks that were too big, interconnected and complex to be closed or go bankrupt. As a result, many banks have been rescued using public support, allowing for an uninterrupted provision of their services, but effectively shifting (most) of their losses to taxpayers instead of banks' owners or investors. The political realities following the bail-out of banks called for game-changing regulation to reduce both the likelihood and the impact of failure. The Banking Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) became one of the most important building blocks of the Banking Union. The BRRD is the outcome of a long negotiation process. The new bank recovery and resolution framework has wide reaching implications, both within the EU but also for countries with banking relationships with the EU. This Guidebook aims to explain the scope, the principles, and the rationale of the BRRD and related secondary legislation and guidance. Expert contributors, including lawyers and academics, share in this Guidebook their experience of and insights to the BRRD negotiation process, recovery and resolution planning, adoption of resolution decisions and the negotiation of bail-in. The Guidebook also raises awareness of discretionary or non-regulated areas and provides some initial thoughts for further development and possible implementation challenges. These challenges include but are not limited to the management of potential conflict of interests, the application of the public interest test, the choice of resolution tools, and the interaction between cross-border regulations. The Guidebook, together with the accompanying case studies, should help FinSAC client countries understand the resolution process and identify the impact that the BRRD will have on their own financial systems.

The 2007 financial crisis has exposed major weaknesses in global financial systems, including the threat to financial stability posed by banks that were too big, interconnected and complex to be closed or go bankrupt. As a result, many banks have been rescued using public support, allowing for an uninterrupted provision of their services, but effectively shifting (most) of their losses to taxpayers instead of banks' owners or investors. The political realities following the bail-out of banks called for game-changing regulation to reduce both the likelihood and the impact of failure.The Banking Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) became one of the most important building blocks of the Banking Union. The BRRD is the outcome of a long negotiation process. The new bank recovery and resolution framework has wide reaching implications, both within the EU but also for countries with banking relationships with the EU. This Guidebook aims to explain the scope, the principles, and the rationale of the BRRD and related secondary legislation and guidance. Expert contributors, including lawyers and academics, share in this Guidebook their experience of and insights to the BRRD negotiation process, recovery and resolution planning, adoption of resolution decisions and the negotiation of bail-in. The Guidebook also raises awareness of discretionary or non-regulated areas and provides some initial thoughts for further development and possible implementation challenges. These challenges include but are not limited to the management of potential conflict of interests, the application of the public interest test, the choice of resolution tools, and the interaction between cross-border regulations. The Guidebook, together with the accompanying case studies, should help FinSAC client countries understand the resolution process and identify the impact that the BRRD will have on their own financial systems.

Responding to lessons learned during the global financial crisis, the EU Directive on the Recovery and Resolution of Banks and Securities Firms (the BRRD) has substantially changed the legal framework for insolvency management of financial services institutions across Europe. As the legislative process has been completed with the adoption of the BRRD, and of Regulation No 806/2014 establishing the Single Resolution Mechanism, this book offers a unique insight into the new European framework for the resolution of banks in distress. The chapters in this volume take stock of what has been achieved and present an insightful analysis of both the technical framework and its impact on banking institutions and their counterparties in representative forms of banking activities, including retail and wholesale depositors, counterparties to financial directives, and the providers of relevant parts of the market infrastructure. Special attention is given to the international coordination of resolution. The book's focus is on resolution and its impact on the relationships between banks, customers, other market participants and market infrastructure, including the preventative requirements on recovery and resolution planning under the BRRD. The chapters bring together a wide range of perspectives by scholars, practitioners from regulatory authorities and other parts of the financial safety net, as well as from private practice, from many jurisdictions, and both legal and economic backgrounds. Arranged broadly in line with the structure of the BRRD, the book is a highly useful reference for practitioners, policy-makers, and academics alike.

Coinciding with the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency's (MIGA) twentieth anniversary, "Investing with Confidence: Understanding Political Risk Management in the 21st Century" examines key political risk issues including claims and arbitration, perspectives on pricing from the private, public and multilateral providers, as well as exploring new frontiers in sovereign wealth funds and Islamic finance. These topics are particularly relevant for today's uncertain markets, and provide important analysis and thinking from key practioners and clients. Political risk insurance is critical to maintaining flows of foreign direct investment into developing markets; this volume offers valuable insights for practitioners and investors alike.

While some may claim that the European debt crisis is over, many European legislative instruments directed at crisis management in the banking sector, including Banking Union legislation, are still pending enactment. These legislative instruments, once enacted, will bring about an unprecedented harmonization of European bank insolvency law. Also, a multitude of legal disputes following the nationalization of SNS Reaal, the fourth largest bank in the Netherlands, in February 2013, are still unresolved. On 23 May 2013, the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law at Leiden Law School and the Netherlands Association for Comparative and International Insolvency Law (NACIIL) organized a conference on the highly topical theme of recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms. The key question to which answers were sought during this conference was: 'Which rules should govern banks in difficulties?' This question has also been the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law's research theme for the past two years. The Hazelhoff Financial Law Series intends to deepen and further the debate on topical issues of financial law. It represents key results of the work of the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law at Leiden Law School. We understand financial law to encompass, inter alia, the legal aspects of financial supervision, the organization, functioning and regulation of financial markets, securities and finance transactions, market abuse, payments and payment systems, duties of care in the banking sector and bank insolvency. Another key characteristic of the work of the Hazelhoff Centre for Financial Law is our focus on the international dimension of financial law. Should you share our enthusiasm in any of these areas of the law, we are confident that you will find much of interest in the present volume.--