In a recent effort to further enhance the European Economic and Monetary Union, the European Commission has made it one of its top priorities to develop a strategy for non-performing loans ("NPLs"). The Commission believes that the high levels of NPLs held in the balance sheets of banks operating in the European Union ensuing from the financial crisis, is a serious source of vulnerability for the European banking sector and adversely impacts the banks' ability to finance the real economy. The idea is that if banks were to be better able to off-load NPLs from their balance sheet, time and money will become available to be invested in new lending opportunities, which in turn would accelerate further economic growth.