Recital 9

(9)The principles of mutual recognition and home Member State supervision require that Member States' competent authorities should not grant or should withdraw authorisation where factors such as content of the activities programmes, the geographical distribution or the activities actually carried on indicate clearly that a credit institution has opted for the legal system of one Member State for the purpose of evading the stricter standards in force in another Member State within whose territory it carries on or intends to carry on the greater part of its activities. A credit institution which is a legal person must be authorised in the Member State in which it has its registered office. A credit institution which is not a legal person must have its head office in the Member State in which it has been authorised. In addition, Member States must require that a credit institution's head office always be situated in its home Member State and that it actually operates there.