The purpose of this study is to understand how and to what extent Member States' national frameworks for loan enforcement (both through individual enforcement procedures and in insolvency), as well as collateral, affect the efficiency of debt recovery by creditors in all 28 Member States.

The study shall deliver data on the efficiency of national loan enforcement procedures from a bank creditor perspective, including both individual enforcement and collective enforcement (insolvency procedures) as well as collateral enforcement, in all 28 Member States. Efficiency is to be investigated by reference to outcome-oriented parameters such as recovery rate, speed, and costs of proceedings, which should be assessed for the various types of existing procedures in each Member State and for an appropriate typology of cases as per company size or status of creditor as typical for banks. The analysis shall also evaluate predictability of outcome, i.e. examine the range of outcomes, and probabilities of obtaining median result rather than average figures only. A country-by-country analysis for all 28 Member States shall be delivered for all 28 EU Member States, employing a common benchmarking methodology. In so doing, it should develop a robust methodology and a set of criteria which lend themselves to replication by the Commission.