02 October 2007

CEBS demands appropriate status and tools

Danièle Nouy, Chair of CEBS, demanded the European Parliament to “consider endowing the Committee with the appropriate status and tools to achieve its objectives.” “We do not ask to be transformed into an EU regulatory agency”, Nouy said, “but we find odd that a Committee entrusted with such a daunting task cannot be mentioned and attributed tasks in Community legislation.”

Speaking before the EP’s ECON Committee, Mrs Nouy said that 2007 is the year “in which you and the other EU institutions are reviewing the working arrangements of the so-called Lamfalussy architecture”.

As areas for improvements to promote convergence in day to day supervisory practices Mrs Nouy mentioned the right balance between principles and detailed rules, as well as further improving public consultation processes.

CEBS work on supervisory cooperation moves in two parallel and mutually reinforcing directions, she explained:

- multilateral cooperation, in which the Committee is directly involved as a hub for information exchange; and

- cooperation within colleges of supervisors, i.e. between the home and host authorities in charge of a specific cross-border banking firm.

“In the first area, we had an important test with the recent turmoil”, she said. “We had an extensive exchange of confidential information of quantitative and qualitative nature, and an in depth discussion on recent market developments.”

“In the second area, CEBS provides a framework for cooperation and an interconnection between the different supervisory colleges. Our key project to improve the cooperation and coordination of the supervision of cross-border groups, the so-called ‘operational networking’”

“We held a preliminary discussion on the lessons to be learned”, the Chair concluded, noting that there is agreement in the supervisory community to look more carefully at valuation methods and transparency for structured products. “But, in doing that, we need to find the right balance between falling into the temptation of “supervisory overkill” or being complacent”, she stressed.  

Full speech

© Graham Bishop