Regulating bank governance and the EU Capital Requirements Directive

Abstract:

This article pays tribute to Professor Mads Andenas’s scholarly contribution to European banking law and regulation. The article addresses how EU banking law under the Capital Requirements Directive IV regulates private shareholder rights regarding their governance or control rights over banking corporations and the extent to which public law regulatory powers are constrained by EU constitutional law regarding the application of administrative sanctions on EU banks or bank shareholders who violate CRD IV governance principles and rules.

The analysis will focus on the CRD IV’s sound and prudent governance principle and related regulatory technical standards adopted by the European Banking Authority. It will also analyse the extent to which EU administrative or regulatory sanctions can be applied to banks for violating the sound and prudent governance principle and related regulatory standards and how the principle of proportionality could apply to the exercise of such regulatory powers. The article builds on the fascinating body of work of Professor Andenas in analyzing EU banking law and the extent to which EU member state supervisory authorities are constrained by fundamental EU legal principles in imposing sanctions on banks for violating applicable law and regulatory rules.