13.5.5 Concluding remarks

While almost every bank State aid case is characterised by divestments, not all divestments are specifically aimed at creating a new competitor. Indeed, as set out in the present section, only in the cases of KBC, ING, LBG, RBS, Ethias, Bank of Ireland and Parex banka, the divestments were aimed at creating a new competitor. Why only in these cases? Why are the other bank State aid cases not characterised by this type of divestment? Remarkably, the Commission did not clarify why this type of divestment was not needed in all cases. While there may be valid reasons to change the approach towards this specific type of divestment, changing the approach without a clear explanation points at an inconsistency.

Subsection 13.5.4 discussed the amendment decisions in the cases that were characterised by divestments aimed at creating a new competitor. These amendment decisions illustrate that this type of divestment is not very easy to implement. This raises questions as to its effectiveness. From this viewpoint, it might be a good thing that this type of divestment is no longer required by the Commission.

Needless to say that downsizing is still an essential element of the restructuring plan; this particular restructuring measure will be set out in detail in the next section.