Laboureix says MREL needs crisis-ready banks and authorities
Single Resolution Board (SRB) Chair Dominique Laboureix urged banks and authorities to pair loss-absorbing debt with tested crisis capabilities. At the tenth MREL Workshop in Vienna, he called for deeper capital markets in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe.
Loss absorption needs a market
MREL, the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities, enables creditors and shareholders to absorb bank losses and fund recapitalisation.
Access to the Single Resolution Fund requires prior loss absorption of 8 percent of total liabilities and own funds; subordinated MREL also targets 8 percent.
Banks built more than €2.6 trillion in capacity and mostly met the January 2024 deadline, with some extensions.
Annual eligible issuance averaged €296 billion in 2021-2025, close to €300 billion.
Laboureix urged deeper regional markets: shallow demand raises smaller banks' costs, while local subsidiaries under multiple-point-of-entry strategies need external debt.
Retail placements expose savers to losses.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development supports issuance.
From capacity to crisis execution
The SRB's 2020 expectations cover seven dimensions, including operational continuity, valuation and communication.
SRM Vision 2028, launched in 2024, moved the focus to testing capabilities.
Banks need harmonised liability data and bail-in playbooks coordinating external stakeholders.
Authorities have more than 150 resolution plans and work with 21 national resolution authorities.
In 2025, the SRB set valuation expectations and developed its own tool.
Laboureix cited Sberbank's presence in eight regional markets to explain the need for cross-border crisis cooperation.
Simplification without weaker resilience
Laboureix's distinction is explicit: debt supplies resources, while tested capabilities make resolution executable.
He welcomed the European Commission's planned banking competitiveness and simplification package.
MREL changes, he said, must take a holistic approach and preserve resilience built over the past ten years.