The Evolution of European (EU) Banking Law under the Influence of (Public) International Banking Law: A Comprehensive Overview (Fourth fully updated edition)

Abstract

The present study contains a further update of the comprehensive overview of the evolution of European (EU) banking law under the influence of public international banking law. The cut-off date for information included therein is 31 December 2021.
The study is structured in two Parts:
Part One, titled “Public International Financial Law (Regulation)”, contains four Sections: Section A gives the definition, presents the various branches, and undertakes a brief overview of the historical evolution of public international financial law. The following Section B discusses the four levels of the making and enforcement of public international financial law (political decision-making – adoption of the rules – coordination – indirect enforcement of rules) and its sources, with emphasis on the ‘Compendium of Standards and Codes’ of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Section C presents then the international fora adopting international financial standards and the Committee on the Global Financial System. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which is the main forum setting standards pertaining to public international banking law, is discussed in more details in Section D. Appendix I briefly discusses the measures taken at global level in relation to financial stability amidst the current pandemic crisis.
Part Two, titled “European (EU) Banking Law (Regulation)”, is structured in six Sections: Section A gives the definition and the branches of EU financial law and then undertakes a brief overview of its historical evolution, in four periods. Appendix I discusses in more details the procedure for the making of EU financial law after the recent (2007-2009) international financial crisis. Section B presents the developments in EU financial law as a result of the ongoing fiscal crisis in the euro area, which leads to the presentation of the (European) Banking Union (BU), including the still pending issues in relation thereto. The following Sections C and D present briefly, in turn, the two main pillars of the BU, namely the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM). Section E contains an analysis of the Deposit Guarantee Schemes Directive (DGSD) of 2014 and Section F briefly presents the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) mechanism, which refers to last-resort lending to viable credit institutions in the euro area by the national central banks – members of the Eurosystem. The financial stability measures taken at EU level amidst the current pandemic crisis are discussed in Appendix III.

Keywords: public international financial law, standard setting bodies, Compendium of Standards and Codes, Financial Stability Board FSB, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), EU banking law, (European) Banking Union (BU), SSM,SRM, DGSD, Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) mechanism, pandemic crisis

JEL Classification: E50, E58, F36, G01, G21, G28, G32, G33, K20, K23, K33, L80