The German bank restructuring and resolution regime is approaching its “home stretch”. As early as 2008, as a response to the financial crisis, the German legislator started amending bank regulatory provisions to foster the stability of the financial system and to rescue banks in crisis. The legislative framework has been repeatedly readjusted since then.

As the most recent development, the German Federal Government published a legislative package on 9 July 2014 which, among other things, aims to implement Directive 2014/59/EC (Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive – BRRD) and shall – according to the draft act – for the most part enter into force on 1 January 2015.