Are EU Banks Safe?

Abstract

What exactly are the rules banks are subject to, and are they fit for purpose? These are the two questions addressed in this book ‘Are EU banks safe?’ and its descriptive companion book ‘EU banking supervision’. The full rulebook on banks is difficult to find and grasp nowadays, both as to size and as to sources. Even if only looking at the European Union (EU), it runs to thousands of pages spread over regulations, directives, standards, guidelines and communications. These rules, their explanations and specifications are issued by legislators, supervisors and courts. The EU rulebooks are supplemented by thousands of pages at the national level in each member state that often overlap with or can be overruled by the EU level rules. Where the details can easily be overwhelming, the underlying structure is difficult to see, and the reasons why these were introduced are presented superficially at best in the recitals. The achievement of these goals is thus as difficult to confirm as the full rulebook is difficult to oversee. As the EU has been the primary rule maker in this area and will for the foreseeable future take over the standard setting for each bank operating in the EU, both books focus on the EU level rulebook and procedures and their repercussions for the banks, their supervisors and the member states. The descriptive book ‘EU banking supervision’ serves the purpose of providing a full overview of what the author would have liked to know – or to have had easy access to – when starting to work in this field.