Abstract

The article explores the role that the deposit guarantee schemes perform in the bank bailouts. After having considered some recent developments in the rules of the bank crisis management, able to affect the qualification and the function of those schemes, it analyses the recent decision of the European Commission to open a State aid investigation in relation to the support given by Italy, through the Fondo interbancario di tutela dei depositi, in favor of the Banca Tercas. This decision represents a significant change in the traditional assessment of the action carried out by the deposit guarantee scheme. Although it can be explained with the more rigorous approach initiated by the Commission after the financial crisis, the decision reveals various inconsistencies both with the State aid discipline and with the role that directives 2014/59/Ue and 2014/49/Ue design for the deposit guarantee schemes, strengthening clearly the prevention function of the crisis compared with the traditional function of deposit guarantee.