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EU Banks Told to Get Crisis-Ready by Removing Wind-Down Hurdles

  • Single Resolution Board’s Koenig speaks in Brussels interview
  • Koenig says many banks’ corporate structures are complex webs
Skyscrapers stand on the city skyline in this photograph taken from the European Central Bank's (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt.

Skyscrapers stand on the city skyline in this photograph taken from the European Central Bank's (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt.

Photographer: Martin Leissl/Bloomberg

Big euro-area lenders face a choice; clean up the complicated corporate structures that make them difficult to wind down in a crisis, or watch Elke Koenig do it for them.

Koenig, head of the Brussels-based Single Resolution Board, said in an interview that streamlining banks’ architecture and ensuring they can fund their own demise without taxpayers’ help will be priorities in the year ahead.