Laboureix backs separate bank and insurer resolution frameworks
Single Resolution Board (SRB) Chair Dominique Laboureix supports distinct but complementary crisis frameworks for banks and insurers. The Insurance Recovery and Resolution Directive (IRRD) enters full application on January 30, 2027.
Different liabilities demand different tools
Speaking to the Pan-European Conglomerates Club, Laboureix set out three principles: complementarity, proportionality and cooperation.
He opposed merging bank and insurer resolution frameworks, citing different risks, balance sheets and timelines.
Banks need rapid stabilisation: SVB received $42 billion in withdrawal requests in eight hours.
Bank bail-in relies on minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities and, for global systemic banks, total loss-absorbing capacity.
Insurers face no equivalent requirement; the IRRD offers portfolio transfers and solvent run-off.
Cross-sector contagion remains a concern: after Lehman Brothers failed in 2008, AIG received a $182 billion bailout because its failure threatened a dozen banks.
Structure determines the resolution route
The European Economic Area has 58 financial conglomerates; the SRB plans resolution for 27 banking groups qualifying as conglomerates.
Structures are bank-led, insurer-led or holding-led.
Banking accounts for 83–91 percent of business at France's five largest bank-led groups, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Laboureix said operational, legal and financial dependencies determine separability.
Share sales can preserve integrated groups; selling insurance operations can reduce the resolution perimeter, generate liquidity and support a bank bail-in.
Separate tools require joint readiness
Laboureix's emphasis is coordination, not a unified rulebook.
A cyberattack on shared systems can disable both businesses, requiring cooperation between resolution authorities.
He favours information-sharing and college observers, while warning that different valuations and national insurance governance complicate joint strategies.