How to avoid taxpayers paying for bank failures and banking crises? This book provides a proposal and a critique by twelve independent experts. It is addressed particularly to the threat posed in Europe by having large international banks, a history of bailouts and limited means of resolving any future banking crises. It shows how political imperatives and legal constraints currently result in economic losses in many countries round the world. INDICE List of Figures Preface Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction PART I: THE PROBLEM AND THE PROPOSED SOLUTION An Overview of the Issues; D.G.Mayes The New Approach to Orderly Bank Exit: Questions and Answers; A.Liuksila PART II: HOW BIG IS THE PROBLEM? Disclosure as a Cure for Moral Hazard: Necessary but Insufficient; G.H.Stern The Incentive Compatible Design Of Deposit Insurance and Bank Failure Resolution: Concepts and Country Studies T.Beck Small Countries, Large Multi-Country Banks: a challenge to supervisors -- the example of the Nordic-Baltic area; J.Sigurðsson The Economic Impact of Insolvency Law; B.Blowers & G.Young Do Bank Exit Regimes affect Banking Conditions?; P.Granlund PART III: APPROACHES TO SOLVING THE PROBLEM A European Approach to Banking Crises; H.Brouwer, G.Hebbink & S.Wesseling Avoiding a Crisis: Lessons from the Danish Experience; E.Mølgaard Learning Lessons and Implementing a New Approach to Bank Insolvency Resolution in Switzerland; E.H.G.Hüpkes Bank Resolution Policy and the Organization of Bank Insolvency Proceedings: Critical Dilemmas; C.Hadjiemmanuil Appendix 1: The Proposed Approach to Bank Insolvency Legislation; D.G.Mayes, L.Halme & A.Liuksila Appendix 2: The Basel Committee Guidance on Weak Banks References Index