19 September 2013

FN: Industry calls for European regulatory impact assessment

The European Commission must undertake a full assessment of how different rules in Europe work together to avoid potential mismatches and clashes, according to some of the region's biggest operators.

Sophie Gautié, head of strategy and corporate development at BNP Paribas Securities Services, said in a panel discussion at Sibos yesterday: “We need to look at the cumulative impact of all the regulations. There is some contradiction between the different regulations and we need to take a long-term view. We need good capital markets and not rules that will prevent growth in Europe.”

Paul Symons, head of public affairs at Euroclear, said: “We need securities law harmonisation. It’s been on the agenda for the EU Commission for years. I think it is core to examine and get right. It’s complex and could take years but the process hasn’t really started yet, even though it’s been on the cards for years.”

Elsewhere at the conference, speakers discussed European harmonisation. Frederic Hannequart, chief business development officer at Euroclear, said the creation of a single European market capital infrastructure through regulations such as Target2 Securities, which will harmonise settlements across the region, and the Central Securities Depository Regulation, which creates a common rulebook for settlement cycles, is “creating more governed, leaner regulatory infrastructure”.

However, Hannequart warned that stricter regulation could be counter-intuitive.  He said: “The tighter the regulation, the more you are at risk of driving business away from those infrastructures, and [you] actually [get] the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.”

Full article (FN subscription required)

© Financial News