'Guess Who? The SRB as the Accountable Actor in Legal Review Procedures'

The SRM is an institutionally complex system in which it is unclear which actor is to be held legally accountable. The reason for this complexity flows from the fact that the exercise of powers is spread over a multitude of actors at different levels. Within the SRM's framework, we find both vertical and horizontal cooperative links. In relation to the vertical links, EU actors take the main decisions, while the implementation is left to national actors. Horizontal cooperative links at the EU level are also present as EU institutions and an EU agency have to act together in composite administrative procedures. This institutional set-up results in unclarity as to where responsibility lies. If legal protection is to be provided against decisions resolving significant banks, it has to be clear who should be held responsible in legal review procedures. The article's aim is to examine what issues of legal review exist and to analyse where the de facto decision-making, and thus legal responsibility, lies within the SRM's framework.