BIS Review 145/2008  5  An EU-level crisis resolution framework, especially for systemic banks, is however pending. Like crisis prevention and management, crisis resolution was fundamentally national up to this crisis. Differences across countries’ approach to financial institutions’ failure vary enormously. Even for banks, there is little harmonization.
Some countries have only a few bank-specific regulations; general commerce bankruptcy laws apply despite the winding up directive after BCCI. As shown again during the current crisis, banks have a liquidation value that is well below their value as going concerns. So, recapitalization is less expensive than liquidation.