Key items for Financial Services
Green paper on improving the efficiency of the enforcement of judgments in the European Union: the attachment of bank accounts, Draftswoman: Sharon Bowles (ALDE), Consideration of amendments
The raporteur only disagrees with the amendments of Mrs Batzeli.
Report
Amendments
Monetary dialogue with Mr.Jean-Claude TRICHET, President of the ECB
Jean-Claude Trichet, outlined the ECB’s view on the Lamfalussy process, stressing the importance of monitoring systematically the concrete implementation of the framework to identify areas for possible enhancement. “While at the beginning, the monitoring activity concentrated on the regulatory part of the approach, the focus has rightly turned more recently to the supervisory level”, Trichet said. “One of the main challenges concerning the Level 3 activity is to ensure that the deliberations taken by the supervisory committees concerning co-operation and convergence are applied consistently in practice.”
With regard to financial stability and the current discussions on crisis resolution, Trichet outlined three main principles.
“The arrangements on crisis management and resolution should be flexible enough to keep pace with market developments and to handle the specific features of the actual crisis”.
“Coherence between the framework for crisis prevention - which is based for the most part on prudential supervision - and the framework for crisis management and resolution. This implies acknowledging the current institutional distribution of responsibilities between home-country and host-country authorities also in a crisis situation.”
“The principle of the primacy of private sector solutions as regards crisis resolution. Again, the arrangements should avoid any kind of moral hazard that could provide the wrong incentives for risk-taking by the financial industry.”
Trichet finally turned to the issue of corporate finance in the euro area and presented the ECB’s Structural Issues Report. He concluded that “it is likely that credit risk will be less concentrated on banks, thereby making them less vulnerable in the event of shocks, whilst it remains to be fully understood if and where credit risks are again concentrating on some particular sub-sectors in the non-bank constituencies.”
Opening the discussion, Alexander Radwan (EPP, D) asked if the coordination among supervisors under the Lamfalussy procedure is perceived sufficient and if supervisors are appropriately prepared, or if more co-ordination is needed. He also asked for Mr Trichets’ opinion on the outcome on Hedge Funds of the G8 meeting.
Responding on the Lamfalussy procedure Mr Trichet called for more co-ordination. He called it “abnormal” that the interpretation of directives differs among the member states which lead to gold-plating.
He welcomed the declaration on Hedge Funds and the ongoing work of the FSF. However, he also sent a clear message to the industry to work on benchmark behaviour.
Mr Garcia-Margallo (EPP, E) was interested in the ECB’s view on the low cross-border market in mortgage credit and, with regard to the situation in Spain, its opinion on the independency of supervisors in general.
Mr Trichet stated the global assumption that supervisory authorities should be independent. On mortgage credit he underlined that one would be better off in a more integrated market. He called the national segmentation “not normal” for an internal market, particularly for a single currency area.
Mrs van den Burg (PES,NL) was interested in the home-host relation in crisis situations, particularly the lender-of-last-resort function for banks of the Central Bank to the host country. Also Mr Purvis (EPP,UK) asked if the Central Bank is fully prepared for financial crisis situations.
Mr Trichet said that there are no forms of ex-ante arrangements on burden sharing in case of cross-border crisis situations.
Full speech
Asset Management II, Rapporteur: Wolf Klinz (ALDE), Exchange of views
Discussion on the Working Document was postponed to a later meeting.
Working Document
Green Paper on the Review of the Consumer Acquis, Draftsman: Olle Schmidt (ALDE), Consideration of amendments (possibly)< br>
Discussion postponed to the extraordinary Strasbourg meeting on 18 June.
Report
Amendments
Votes:
Financial services policy (2005-2010) - White Paper, Rapporteur: Ieke van den Burg (PSE), - Adoption of draft report (possibly)
The vote on the report was postponed to the extraordinary Strasbourg meeting on 18 June.
Report
Amendments
ADD Implementing powers conferred on the Commission, Rapporteur: Pervenche Berès (PSE), Adoption of draft reports
Direct insurance other than life assurance
European insurance and occupational pensions committee
Undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities
Re-insurance
All reports were adopted without amendments.
NA
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