The Administrative Court of Frankfurt ruled on the actions brought by three major financial institutions (Case Nos. 7 K 3685/24.F, 7 K 3686/24.F and 7 K 3705/24.F). The banks challenged their annual contributions to the restructuring fund for the years 2011 to 2014.
The fund was intended to stabilise the German financial market until a new European framework for crisis management was in place. As of 2016, a unified European mechanism and the Single Resolution Fund were introduced. For the build-up phase of the SRF until the end of 2023, the national bank levies were intended to serve as bridge financing. Since this purpose ceased to exist in early 2024, there is no longer a legal basis for retaining the contributions.
The chamber of the Administrative Court responsible for financial supervisory matters followed this reasoning and upheld the first three claims to a very considerable extent: the claimant institutions are entitled to the reopening of their administrative procedures by BaFin, to the annulment of the contribution notices and to the repayment of the annual contributions for 2011 to 2014.
Sernetz Schäfer (Dr. Niklas Bartmann (Partner), Prof Dr. Andreas Früh (Of Counsel) and Dr. Luca Koukounakis (Associate)) advised and represented UniCredit Bank GmbH as one of the claimants in the lead cases, together with pswp. The firms also represent several additional credit institutions seeking repayment; their actions are still pending before the Administrative Court.