A major conference on the future of banking yesterday heard contributions on a European banking union which is being negotiated by Eurozone finance ministers. One of the aspects of that union will be a ‘bail-in’ of deposits when banks fail in the future. Michael Noonan, Ireland’s Minister for Finance confirmed yesterday that bail-ins or deposit confiscation will be used.

The toolkit underpinning the Single Resolution Mechanism is provided for in the bank recovery and resolution proposal (BRR) which was agreed last June in Council under the Irish Presidency. The proposal provides a common framework of rules and powers to help EU countries manage arrangements to deal with failing banks at national level as well as cross-border banks, whilst preserving essential bank operations and minimising taxpayers’ exposure to losses.

One of the main pillars to the BRR framework to facilitate a range of actions by authorities are “resolution tools”. Noonan confirmed yesterday that resolution tools include the sale of business, bridge bank and asset separation tools and also the use of bailins.

The era of bondholder bailouts is ending and that of depositor bail-ins is coming.

Preparations have been or are being put in place by the international monetary and financial authorities for bail-ins. The majority of the public are unaware of these developments, the risks and the ramifications.

It is now the case that in the event of bank failure, your deposits could be confiscated.

Let’s be crystal clear: The EU, UK, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand all have plans for bail-ins in the event of banks and other large financial institutions getting into difficulty.

Download our Bail-In Guide: Protecting your Savings In The Coming Bail-In Era (11 pages)

Download our Bail-In Research: From Bail-Outs to Bail-Ins: Risks and Ramifications (51 pages)

Reprinted with permission from GoldCore.