Member States shall require credit institutions to obtain authorisation before commencing their activities. Member States shall require applications for authorisation to be accompanied by a programme of operations setting out, inter alia, the types of business envisaged and the structural organisation of the credit institution. Without prejudice to other general conditions laid down by the national law, the competent authorities shall not grant authorisation when the credit institution does not possess separate own funds or in cases where initial capital is less than EUR 5 million. Member States may decide that credit institutions which do not fulfil the requirement of separate own funds and which were in existence on 15 December 1979 may continue to carry on their business. Member States may, subject to the following conditions, grant authorisation to particular categories of credit institutions the initial capital of which is less than EUR 5 million: the initial capital shall be no less than EUR 1 million; the Member States concerned shall notify the Commission and European Banking Authority of their reasons for exercising that option; and the name of each credit institution that does not have the minimum capital shall be annotated to that effect in the list which the European Banking Authority shall publish and keep up-to-date on its website.