Action brought on 15 May 2020 — Del Valle Ruiz and Others v SRB

(Case T-302/20)

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicants: Antonio Del Valle Ruiz (Mexico City, Mexico) and 36 other applicants (represented by: P. Rubio Escobar, R. Ruíz de la Torre Esporrín and B. Fernández García, lawyers)

Defendant: Single Resolution Board

Form of order sought

The applicants claim that the General Court should:

annul the Decision of the Single Resolution Board of 17 March 2020 (SRB/EES/2020/52) determining whether compensation needs to be granted to the shareholders and creditors of Banco Popular Español S.A.;

order the defendant and any parties intervening in full or partial support of it to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In support of their action, the applicants rely on six pleas in law.

First plea in law, alleging infringement of Article 15(1)(g) of Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2014 establishing uniform rules and a uniform procedure for the resolution of credit institutions and certain investment firms in the framework of a Single Resolution Mechanism and a Single Resolution Fund and amending Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (‘Regulation No 806/2014’). In that connection, the applicants submit that the former shareholders of Banco Popular should not have sustained greater losses in the resolution than those that they would have incurred in the case of an ordinary insolvency.

Second plea in law, alleging infringement of Article 20(16) of Regulation No 806/2014. The applicants submit, in that regard, that the contested decision failed to assess whether the former shareholders of Banco Popular would have received better treatment in ordinary insolvency proceedings than in the resolution, since insolvency proceedings were equated with liquidation. Furthermore, the valuation was not carried out by an independent person.

Third plea in law, alleging infringement of Article 41(2) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (‘the Charter’), in so far as there was infringement of the right of the former shareholders of Banco Popular to be heard before the individual measure which would affect them adversely was taken.

Fourth plea in law, alleging infringement of Article 47 of the Charter. In that connection, the applicants allege infringement of the right of the former shareholders of Banco Popular to effective judicial protection, leaving them defenceless as a consequence.

Fifth plea in law, alleging infringement of Article 17 of the Charter and Article 1 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, in so far as the shareholders were deprived of their right to property without having received fair compensation for that loss.

Sixth plea in law, alleging infringement of Article 52 of the Charter. It is submitted in that regard that the SRB deprived the shareholders of their right to property without complying with the legally established limits.

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