The EU has made great endeavors in establishing a bank resolution procedure after the global financial crisis (GFC). In April 2014 the directive on establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms (referred to as The Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, the BRRD) was finally adopted, which set up the basic framework for the resolution regime in the EU. The BRRD includes a three-step resolution framework: recovery and resolution planning, the early intervention, and the resolution. This article analyses the effectiveness of the pre-resolution recovery framework, including the intra-group support, recovery and resolution planning, and the early intervention in the wake of bank failures, such as Lehman Brothers fall. It aims at assessing to which extent the new recovery framework enhances the resilience of banks and facilitates orderly resolution procedure of failing banks.