15 October 2013

Responses to Council's adoption of the SSM: EBF, BaFin

EBF chief executive Guido Ravoet said it was "a true milestone in the Banking Union project". BaFin president Dr Elke König called it a 'starting signal' for improvement in many areas.

EBF

“We really are delighted that this crucial step has been taken by Member States, following the European Parliament’s adoption last month and the approval already given by Member States’ Permanent Representatives in April”, declared Guido Ravoet, Chief Executive of the EBF. “This decision will allow the ECB as well as individual banks to prepare for the actual implementation of the SSM. It is a true milestone in the Banking Union project”, he concluded.

Press release

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BaFin

The European Parliament’s consent to the SSM Regulation was at least the starting signal, a milestone, for change and, hopefully, improvement in many areas. We need this single European supervision of credit institutions. In this way, the market will hopefully regain the trust and dependability that were lost in the crisis. But for this to work, we must succeed in creating an effective European supervisory system that functions smoothly from the very beginning.

Now that the go-ahead has been given, we must push on quickly. The supreme body of the new European banking supervisory system, the Supervisory Board, must be constituted and its chairperson must be appointed as soon as possible. We should also begin straightaway with putting together the joint supervisory teams that will be responsible for supervising the significant institutions in future. For we won’t succeed without very close cooperation between the ECB and national supervisors.

How much work will be left for BaFin if the ECB oversees the major banks?

There will be no shortage of work for us. After all, we are part of the European System of Financial Supervision. The ECB needs our expertise, our experience and our closeness to institutions in order to be able to fulfil its new function. It is precisely for this reason that there will be joint supervisory teams to supervise the major banks. Know-how cannot be transferred by decree. In addition, not all banking supervision functions are being conferred on the ECB and not all banks will be subject to direct supervision by the ECB.

Full press release and interview