1. The ECB may, pursuant to Article 6(5)(b) of the SSM Regulation, decide at any time, by means of an ECB decision, to exercise directly the supervision of a less significant supervised entity or less significant supervised group where this is necessary to ensure consistent application of high supervisory standards.
2. Before taking the ECB decision referred to in paragraph 1, the ECB shall take into account, inter alia, any of the following factors:
(a)
whether or not the less significant supervised entity or less significant supervised group is close to meeting one of the criteria contained in Article 6(4) of the SSM Regulation;
(b)
the interconnectedness of the less significant supervised entity or less significant supervised group with other credit institutions;
(c)
whether or not the less significant supervised entity concerned is a subsidiary of a supervised entity which has its head office in a non-participating Member State or a third country and has established one or more subsidiaries, which are also credit institutions, or one or more branches in participating Member States, of which one or more is significant;
(d)
the fact that the ECB’s instructions have not been followed by the NCA;
(e)
the fact that the NCA has not complied with the acts referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 4(3) of the SSM Regulation;
(f)
the fact that the less significant supervised entity has requested or received indirectly financial assistance from the EFSF or the ESM.