Fines for Misconduct in the Banking Sector – What Is the Situation in the EU?

Djupanalys 20-03-2017

This paper was drafted under supervision of the Economic Governance Support Unit. The US system for addressing bank misconduct through fines delivers a number of lessons for the EU with regard to the design of bank enforcement architecture and the need to develop common approaches across national and EU levels with a view to avoiding regulatory arbitrage. Following the crisis, the highest money penalties imposed on banks in the US related to mis-selling of financial products – a criminal offence falling under the remit of Department of Justice – rather than to breaches of prudential supervisory requirements.