16 January 2013

EIOPA: Joint Committee 2013 Work Programme

It will further pursue the regulatory work initiated in 2012 in key areas such as Financial Conglomerates, Anti-Money Laundering and Credit Ratings, and will give more visibility to its work to external stakeholders. According to the annually rotating chairmanship, the Joint Committee in 2013 is chaired by EIOPA chair Gabriel Bernardino.

I. Consumer Protection

The work on Consumer Protection will focus on three work streams:

• Consumer protection sub-group: Cross-selling and complaints handling are a first priority.
• Product oversight and governance sub-group: This sub-group will consider the development of a set of high-level principles for the product approval process based on the results of its September 2012 mapping exercise.
• Retail products sub-group (PRIPs): This sub-group will contribute to the development of proposals for the European Commission concerning delegated acts and to the development of draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) in the area of disclosures for packaged retail investor products outlined in the legislative proposal.

II. Risk Assessment

In 2013, the ESAs are scheduled to submit two Reports on Risks and Vulnerabilities to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee’s Financial Stability Table as part of their joint bi-annual reporting on micro-prudential analysis of cross-sectoral developments and research into key trends and threats to financial stability. The Risk Sub-Committee will continue to develop suitable indicators for cross-sectoral financial risks, and to enhance its analytical approach. In particular, the ESAs are working towards closer cooperation on evaluating financial market developments of mutual concern, such as shadow banking, bank funding, credit derivatives, asset encumbrance, financial innovation, and financial market integration. The ESAs will consider enhancing the Report’s visibility through a wider distribution among interested parties in the EU.

III. Regulatory work

• Financial Conglomerates: the ESAs stand ready to further contribute to the EC’s fundamental review of the Financial Conglomerates Directive.
• European Market Infrastructures Regulation: One of the key Joint Committee tasks in 2012 was the work on EMIR, where the regulation requires that RTS are developed jointly by the three ESAs.
• Anti-Money Laundering (AML): the ESAs will continue their work in respect to equivalent/non-equivalent countries; they will also continue their work in relation to the 2nd E-Money Working Group with a view to adapt the AML/Payment Services Directive (PSD, 2007/64/EC) Cooperation Protocol on Payment Institutions to E-Money issuers.
• Credit ratings and External Credit Assessment Institutions (ECAI): the ESAs will jointly work on the development of the Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) as per the provisions under the Capital Requirements Regulation.
• Finally, the Impact Assessment Network will amongst others continue assisting the ESAs’ staff with respect to the impact assessment consideration and production of Technical Standards, Guidelines, and their respective consultations, and contribute to the general quality of the Impact Assessment process.

IV. Supervisory Practice

The ESAs will work together on the joint ESAs’ cross-sectoral Training Programme. The Joint Committee’s Sub-Committee on AML will also pursue the assessment of AML supervisory practices and risk based approaches, with a view to promote common supervisory approaches and practice. The Joint Committee’s Sub-Committee on Financial Conglomerates will continue to monitor college discussions in relation to the Financial Conglomerates requirements.

V. Common Processes and Procedures

The ESAs will pursue their contribution to the European System of Financial Supervision’s assessment by the Commission, delivering further information on the ESAs’ achievements and key-indicators in 2013. In addition, views will be exchanged on possible improvements of the ESA’s framework.

Full work programme

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