According to Article 88(1) Directive 2014/59/EU (BRRD) “resolution authorities shall establish resolution colleges to carry out the tasks referred to in Articles 12, 13, 16, 18, 45 to 45h, 91 and 92, and, where appropriate, to ensure cooperation and coordination with third-country resolution authorities. […] In addition, resolution colleges may be used as a forum to discuss any issues relating to cross-border group resolution”.

According to Article 88(2)(d) BRRD, the members of the resolution college shall be, among others, “the resolution authorities of Member States in which significant branches are located”.

On top of this, according to Article 88(3) BRRD, “the resolution authorities of third countries where a parent undertaking or an institution established in the Union has a subsidiary institution or a branch that would be considered to be significant were it located in the Union may, at their request, be invited to participate in the resolution college as observers”.

Based on the above, it seems possible to conclude that a resolution college is to be established for a group consisting of a bank which is a resolution entity in a Member State, the bank’s significant branches in other Member States, the bank’s subsidiaries (credit institutions) in the Member State where the bank is domiciled and the bank’s subsidiaries (credit institutions) in third countries.

We also note that this reading would be in line with recital (3) in the BRRD, according to which “the failure of a cross-border institution is likely to affect the stability of financial markets in the different Member States in which it operates. The inability of Member States to seize control of a failing institution and resolve it in a way that effectively prevents broader systemic damage can undermine Member States’ mutual trust and the credibility of the internal market in the field of financial services” and with recital (17), where it is further remarked that “Effective resolution of institutions or group entities operating across the Union requires cooperation among competent authorities and resolution authorities within supervisory and resolution colleges at all the stages covered by this Directive, from the preparation of recovery and resolution plans to the actual resolution of an institution”.

In this vein, recital (15) BRRD is also relevant, as it states that “all the national authorities involved in the resolution of institutions should be represented in resolution colleges, where coordination at cross-border or Union level should take place”.

For this reason, we believe that for a group with the parent entity in one Member State and subsidiaries in third countries and significant branches in other Member States, a resolution college is to be established.