The European Commission had set a new framework for bank bailouts in July as taxpayers expressed outrage over using tax money to fund lenders in financial trouble. Under the new rules, the EU Competition Authority would impose losses on shareholders, bondholders and depositors should the bank gets in trouble.

However, the new rules which were set to take effect in 2018 left bank investors in countries that were in heavy debt unsure of their next move. Citibank Analyst Aaron Elliott said "The reality is, these individual countries can't wait for 2018 to bail in bondholders, they just can't afford to do that."

The report also cited the powers of the EU Competition Authority were not all-encompassing. An EU Competition Authority spokesman told Reuters, "State aid control does not enable the Commission to 'harmonize' measures that member states intend to implement, but merely to set minimum standards for them to be compatible with the internal market."