07 Jun The European Commission has named its new creation, somewhat un-snappily, “Accelerated Extrajudicial Collateral Enforcement” or “AECE” for short
1. EUs Accelerated Extrajudicial Collateral Enforcement
Concerns around the high NPL ratios found in several EU countries continue to dominate the European agenda on banking stability and prudential measures and appear to be a key contributing factor in the shaping of European restructuring and insolvency legislative reforms.
One of the key pillars to the EUs response to the 2008 financial crisis, and the euro crisis that ensued, has been the Banking Union project which includes a raft of initiatives designed to create a safer financial sector, including stronger prudential requirements for banks, improved protection for depositors and rules for managing failing banks. The continued existence of large swathes of NPLs in some member states continues, unsurprisingly, to have a destabilising effect on their banks and consequently an action plan to reduce them has been produced under the umbrella of the Banking Union project.
The European Central Bank is also introducing regulatory measures to tackle the future accumulation of NPLs designed to make their retention by sellers an increasingly costly and complex affair. The Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral is cited by most respondents (27%) as being the measure that will have the biggest impact on the European market. When asked specifically about the directive, more than 61% believe it will have a positive effect on the European NPL market.
One of the key measures contained in the proposed Directive published on 14th is a new enforcement right for secured creditors to provide a more efficient method of value recovery from secured loans in default.
For those familiar with English law, the AECE bears resemblance to an English mortgagees power of sale.