Banking Supervision and COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic is “the crisis” following the financial crisis. Consequently, it is the first crisis with which the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) has to cope. This mechanism was only established in response to the financial crisis. While it is not yet clear which ramifications the pandemic will have for the financial sector, regulators and in particular supervisors have taken swift measures to enable credit institutions to deal with the situation. The measures already adopted lay also the ground for future legislative and super­visory responses to the dynamic development of the pandemic and touch upon general legal issues of the SSM. The book brings together the perspective of the European and national supervisors and the perspective of the supervised entities. The adopted measures at EU level (e.g. in respect of dividends and IFRS 9) and the national level in France, Germany, Italy and Spain are described, followed by the supervised entities’ perspective to these measures and look at upcoming challenges (e.g. recapitalization and remuneration issues). Content overview:

The measures adopted by the Union legislator (“quick fix”) and the ECB in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

The measures adopted in France, Germany, Italy and Spain in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

The perspective of significant and less significant supervised entities

Future challenges (consolidation of the banking market and challenges for business models, recapitalization, remuneration, the conflict between the German Bundesver­fassungsgericht and the CJEU)