SRB Decides on No Compensation to Certain Banco Popular Stakeholders

Banco Popular was resolved on June 07, 2017, following the ECB assessment that it was failing or likely to fail. SRB decided that resolution was in the public interest to protect depositors and prevent instability in the financial system and the Spanish national resolution authority (FROB) implemented the decision at a national level. The bank was sold to Banco Santander, S.A.. The services provided by Banco Popular to its customers continued as normal after resolution. A main principle of the European resolution framework is that no creditor should receive worse treatment than if the resolved bank was wound up under normal insolvency proceedings on the resolution date. An independent valuer analyzed hypothetical insolvency scenarios in the Valuation 3 report. It found that they would not have been better off if the bank had gone into insolvency proceedings on the same date.

On August 06, 2018, SRB published a preliminary decision that no compensation was required and opened a "right to be heard" process, allowing affected shareholders and creditors to express their views and provide reasoning on why they may not agree with the preliminary decision and its underlying reasoning. SRB reviewed 2,856 submissions from parties who registered and were verified to take part in the process. The independent valuer was also asked to provide its independent views on the comments related to the Valuation 3 report. As outlined in the decision, the comments included in these submissions covered a number of aspects, including the independence of the valuer and the content of the Valuation 3 report. Following this analysis, SRB adopted its final decision, which was addressed to FROB,  which is the national resolution authority that implemented the resolution decision. This final decision is the last step in the formal process following the resolution of Banco Popular. The SRB Chair, Elke König said, “I understand this will be disappointing for those who have lost out, however it proves that the resolution framework is effective and shielded the taxpayer from losses and financial instability.”

Related Links

• Press Release
• SRB Decision (PDF)
• Right To Be Heard Process
• Clarification Document (PDF)
• Valuation 3 Report

Keywords: Europe, EU, Banking, Resolution Framework, Banco Popular, Right to be Heard, FROB, SRB Decision, BRRD, SRB