1. Available at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/docs/2011/crisis_management/consultation_paper_en.pdf (accessed 7 June 2011).
2. See the Basel press release of 13 January 2011 at www.bis.org/press/p110113.pdf (accessed 7 June 2011). This articulates the policy which was consulted on in its “Proposal to Ensure the Loss Absorbency of Regulatory Capital at the Point of Non-viability”, BCBS 174 of August 2010 at www.bis.org/publ/bcbs174.pdf (accessed 7 June 2011).
3. At the time of writing there have only been a small number of such issues, notably by Lloyds in 2009, Rabobank in 2010 and 2011, and Credit Suisse in 2011.
4. However, depositor protection is in some respects a misnomer, since what is also sought to be protected is payment accounts and other facilities. Individual depositors did not queue outside branches of Northern Rock only because they believed they were exposed to credit risk (because of the self-insured portion of their claim under the UK's then deposit-protection scheme); many of them queued because an insured deposit balance which cannot be withdrawn is useless for most of the ordinary purposes for which we keep money in a bank.
5. National Bank of Greece and Athens SA v Metliss [1958] AC 509.