Freshfields advises L-Bank on its legal protection against the classification of the bank as a significant institution under the SSM Regulation and the SSM Framework Regulation.

Freshfields advises L-Bank in relation to legal protection against the classification of the bank as a significant institution by the ECB. It is the first lawsuit against a classification decision in Europe.

International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advises Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg (L-Bank) on its legal protection against the classification of the bank as a significant institution under the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) Regulation and the SSM Framework Regulation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) had determined that L-Bank shall be considered a significant institution, which results in direct supervision of the bank by the ECB in the framework of the SSM.

The legal advice provided to L-Bank comprises all means of legal protection foreseen in the SSM Regulation, i.e. representing the bank in the internal administrative review of the ECB’s classification decision and in its action before the EU’s General Court against the new decision taken by the ECB after conclusion of the administrative review.

Since 4 November 2014, 123 groups of banks in the eurozone are directly supervised by the ECB within the SSM. L-Bank is the first bank in Europe to seek judicial review of the ECB’s decision.

The Freshfields team is led by Alexander Glos, alongside Klaus Lackhoff, Florian Toncar (all banking regulatory law) and Markus Benzing (public law, all Frankfurt).