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 sub
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