Saturday, July 13, 2013

The European Commission released the details of its proposals for a single bank resolution mechanism. Here's the run-down of their plans - stupidity has no limit ...it seems...:
 
1. The ECB, as the supervisor, would signal when a bank in the euro area or established in a Member State participating in the Banking Union was in severe financial difficulties and needed to be resolved.
2. A Single Resolution Board, consisting of representatives from the ECB, the European Commission and the relevant national authorities (those where the bank has its headquarters as well as branches and/or subsidiaries), would prepare the resolution of a bank. It would have broad powers to analyze and define the approach for resolving a bank: which tools to use, and how the European Resolution Fund should be involved. National resolution authorities would be closely involved in this work.
3. On the basis of the Single Resolution Board's recommendation, or on its own initiative, the Commission would decide whether and when to place a bank into resolution and would set out a framework for the use of resolution tools and the fund. For legal reasons, the final say could not be with the Board.
4. Under the supervision of the Single Resolution Board, national resolution authorities would be in charge of the execution of the resolution plan.
5. The Single Resolution Board would oversee the resolution. It would monitor the execution at national level by the national resolution authorities and, should a national resolution authority not comply with its decision, it could directly address executive orders to the troubled banks.
6. A Single Bank Resolution Fund would be set up under the control of the Single Resolution Board to ensure the availability of medium-term funding support while the bank was restructured. It would be funded by contributions from the banking sector, replacing the national resolution funds of the euro area Member States and of Member States participating in the Banking Union, as set up by the draft Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unionists have defended the Orange Order.

Ulster Unionist councillor Mark Cosgrove who is also a member of the Belfast Parades Forum said it was "irresponsible of the chief constable to blame the Orange Order for the disturbances".

"There were hundreds of thousands of people from both the loyal orders and the bands, the supporters out in Belfast and all over Northern Ireland yesterday and, I think, to try and apportion blame to the Orange Order is totally wrong," he said.

However, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness said: "In my opinion, the leadership of the Orange Order failed the Orange Order and they failed these communities."

He added: "The decision announced some hours ago, that they are suspending their protests, was a massive admission by themselves that they were culpable for what happened here last night."

Anonymous said...

'Envious Idiots'

Zeman was undeterred. During the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday, he advised his new government to ignore "the media criticism of envious idiots who have never done anything proper in their lives."

The moves have sent the entire political spectrum scrambling as even Zeman's purported ideological allies on the left would prefer early elections they would almost certainly win. One parliamentary insider, a member of the Social Democrats -- the party likely to win an election and one originally brought to prominence by Zeman himself -- admits they are "in a bit of a pickle."

Given the squalid details, it is tempting to see Nečas fall as merely a Berlusconi-esque drama playing out in Central Europe. But it has revealed the kind of democratic shortcomings that its neighbors Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have also suffered from. The so-called Visegrad Four all saw communism end in 1989, joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004. And today, they are all faced with concerns that genuine pluralism is at risk in their respective political systems.

"In recent years, the trends have not been good," said Lubomír Kopeček, a political scientist at Masaryk University in Brno. "All four countries function, but some liberal democratic aspects are under threat."