On 12 November 2018, the Single Resolution Board (SRB) published its work programme for 2019.

The SRB is the central resolution authority within the EU. Together with the national resolution authorities of participating Member States, it forms the Single Resolution Mechanism. The SRB’s mission is to ensure an orderly resolution of failing banks with minimum impact on the real economy, the financial system, and the public finances of the participating Member States and beyond. The role of the SRB is proactive, rather than waiting for resolution cases to manage, the SRB focuses on resolution planning and enhancing resolvability, to avoid the potential negative impacts of a bank failure on the economy and financial stability.

The SRB’s priorities for 2019 are structured along five strategic areas:

• strengthening resolvability for SRB entities and less significant institutions (LSIs): in the 2019 cycle, the SRB expects to adopt more than 100 group-level minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) decisions, and to determine MREL targets for over 530 individual entities;
• fostering a robust resolution framework: this will include issuing a number of new and updated policies for 2019;
• preparing and carrying out effective crisis management: the focus will be on the simplification of internal SRB processes to increase their efficiency, including improving and developing ICT solutions for crisis management;
• operationalising fully the Single Resolution Fund: key objectives in this area will be to further improve the methodology and IT tools for the calculation and collection of ex-ante contributions, and to prepare for possible ex-post contribution;
• establishing a lean and efficient organisation: the SRB will focus on having a lean and efficient organisation, with strong back-office functions that support resolution-related work.