21 September 2007

CEPS: Crisis puts spotlight on weaknesses

Commenting on the US subprime crises, CEPS Chief Executive Karel Lannoo notes that the unfolding crisis in Europe’s financial markets is presenting the EU’s regulatory and supervisory set-up with its first big test, revealing worrying differences in responses to stress, flaws in the enforcement of rules and gaps in the supervisory framework.

Concerted action is needed involving monetary policy authorities, policy-makers and supervisors to agree on a set of policy priorities and to prepare a more integrated response to crises. The reputation of Europe’s financial market is at stake.

“There was a disturbing difference in the reaction on the part of the central banks, essentially the ECB and the Bank of England”, Lanoo says. “Whereas the former rapidly stepped in, the second stayed aside and reacted too late, triggering a much bigger problem, a bank run, something not seen in Western Europe for the last 15 years.”

“Hence both the ex-ante and ex-post crisis management procedures need to be much closer aligned in the EU.”

A second policy priority is the implementation and enforcement of rules. The new Basel II rules on off-balance sheet items of banks, regulating the exposures to conduits and special investment vehicles (SIVs), were apparently not properly applied. The huge delays with transposition of the MiFID Directive “indicates that implementation is an acute problem.”

Supervisory cooperation is a third policy priority. “Common rules to respond to ad hoc supervisory problems are missing”, Lanoo says. “If Europe wants to maintain the reputation of its single financial market, it will need to make a quantum step towards implementing a fully integrated and enforced system of oversight over the financial sector.”

Full article

© Graham Bishop