Banking Union
Banking Union
In 2014 the EU established joint rules and a common Financial Authority for the control of the biggest banks in the European Union. Membership is mandatory for Euro zone members and voluntary for other EU member states.
The Banking Union provides for a common guarantee of deposits in banks up to €100,000 per individual and a bank-financed fund to finance bailouts of failing banks. There is also a supranational authority with the power to dissolve individual banks. This task has been given to the European Central Bank, ECB.
The common EU funding starts with €55 billion, whidh is only enough to finance the bankruptcy of one or two big banks. After that bank clients or/and taxpayers may be asked to pay if there is a major crisis involving more banks. To limit the risks the 130 participating banks were “stress-tested” during 2014.
The European Parliament approved this compromise in a vote on 15 April 2014 with 570 MEPs voting in favour, 88 against and 13 abstentions.
