Bank-Disposal Chief Says Italy Aid Shows Failure-Rule Flaws
- Single Resolution Board’s Koenig calls for alignment of rules
- Koenig speaks in interview on lessons of Italian bank cases
Elke Koenig, head of the European Union's (EU) Single Resolution Board, looks on during a panel discussion at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin (DIW) women's finance summit in Berlin, Germany, on Tuesday, May 23, 2017. Germany's business confidence rose to the highest since 1991 this month, while manufacturers saw the fastest growth in six years amid a surge in orders. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
Bank failures in Italy and the drawn-out rescue of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA revealed the frayed edges in Europe’s patchwork of rules for dealing with firms in crisis, and fixes are needed to make the system work as intended, according to Elke Koenig, who makes the call on saving or shuttering major euro-area lenders.
“Let’s try to look at the cases we had and see how to align the rules better,” Koenig, who heads the Single Resolution Board in Brussels, said in an interview. “Let’s see what kind of room to maneuver is warranted.”