Restructuring Failing Banks for Economic Recovery: In Search of an International Insolvency Regime

This article examines the current architecture of bank insolvency in light of the European regulatory developments, and considers the different approaches adopted by the supervisory authorities to deal with the restructuring of failing banks. The aim is to demonstrate the weaknesses of such approaches – in particular, the ‘bail-in tool’ and the ‘public support option’ – as there is no general agreement on which bank restructuring alternative is preferable.