Non‐performing loans and the harmonisation of extrajudicial collateral enforcement across Europe

• Published date: 01 December 2019
• Author: Tom Hutten,Vincent Hoof,Ben Schuijling
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/iir.1352
• Date: 01 December 2019

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Non-performing loans and the harmonisation of

extrajudicial collateral enforcement across Europe

Ben Schuijling

1

| Vincent van Hoof

2

| Tom Hutten

3

1

Radboud Business Law Institute

(Onderzoekcentrum Onderneming &

Recht), Radboud University, Nijmegen, The

Netherlands

2

Radboud Business Law Institute, Radboud

University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

3

Radboud Business Law Institute, Radboud

University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and

ING Bank, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence

Ben Schuijling, Radboud Business Law

Institute (Onderzoekcentrum Onderneming

& Recht), Radboud University, Nijmegen,

The Netherlands.

Email: b.schuijling@jur.ru.nl

Abstract

The European Union plans on partially harmonising the

extrajudicial enforcement of collateral in order to reduce

the stocks of nonperforming loans. This article dis-

cusses the proposed regime and its background. After

examining its impact on the national secured transac-

tions law of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and

The Netherlands, the authors comment on the appropri-

ateness of the proposed harmonisation.

1|INTRODUCTION

1

The European Union intends to partially harmonise the extrajudicial enforcement of collateral.

These plans are part of the “Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the

council on credit servicers, credit purchasers and the recovery of collateral”(“Directive Pro-

posal”).

2

The main objective of the proposed harmonisation is to tackle the so-called non-

performing loans (NPLs).

The financial crisis of the last decade has led to an increase of debtors who are unable to make

the scheduled payments to cover interest or capital reimbursements to their bank, in particular in

1

This article builds on Ben Schuijling, Vincent van Hoof, and Tom Hutten, “Collateral Recovery and Non-Performing Loans:

Impact, Appropriateness and Necessity of Harmonisation,”Chapter 5 in Jennifer Gant (ed.), Party Autonomy and Third Party

Protection in Insolvency Law (INSOL Europe 2019) (79–96); “Non-performing loans en de harmonisatie van het

zekerhedenrecht”(2018) 8 Tijdschrift Financiering,Zekerheden en Insolventierechtpraktijk 42; and a presentation given at the

INSOL Europe Athens Conference on 3 October 2018.

2

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on credit servicers, credit purchasers, and the recovery

of collateral COM/2018/0135 final—2018/063 (COD) (“Directive Proposal”).

Received: 1 October 2019 Accepted: 16 October 2019

DOI: 10.1002/iir.1352

© 2019 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Int Insolv Rev. 2019;

28:340–353.

340 wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/iir