08 October 2008

Barroso - High Level Group to work on cross-border supervision

Current debates in Council on Solvency II show the resistance any attempt at improving cross-border supervision, Barroso complained. What we have proposed in Solvency II and in the CRD is the strict minimum we need, he underlined.

Commission President Barroso reiterated his call on Member States to improve co-operation amongst themselves and with the European Institutions. Member states need to act on the basis of common principles and within a commonly agreed framework, and take into account the cross-border effects of their actions, he said.

 

Pointing on the supervision EU cross-border banks, Barroso pointed out that “it makes sense to remove the mismatch between a continental-scale market and national systems of supervision.” The Commission President complained that the current debates in the Council on the Solvency II directive show the resistance any attempt at improving cross-border supervision still faces. “What we have proposed in "Solvency II" and in the capital requirements directive is the strict minimum we need”, he underlined. “Indeed, I am convinced we will have to go much further.”

 

Therefore, President Barroso announced to set up a High Level Group, chaired by Jacques de Larosière, to examine the architecture of financial markets and the co-operation of supervisors for cross-border banks.

 

Meanwhile, the Commission has set up inside the College a permanent steering group on the financial crisis, composed of Commissioners Almunia, Kroes and McCreevey, and chaired by President Barroso himself aimed to fast-tracking proposals.

 

The Commission will shortly issue guidance, setting out the broad framework within which the state aid compatibility of recapitalisation and guarantee schemes could be rapidly assessed.

 

By next week, two further proposals on the convergence of deposit guarantee schemes and on accounting rules and of their interpretation will be released.

 

Full speech

 

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