28 March 2012

ECON Committee: Consideration of amendments on CRD IV/CRR

The rapporteur also said that there are many amendments that raise concerns on the disproportionate requirements that the EBA could impose on certain institutions. Karas announced that the EBA will attend an ECON committee to explain their mandate in more detail.

He presented and explained the following topics covered by the amendments:

• the definition of capital;
• on SMEs, Karas said that the reduction of risk weight will only be applied for SMEs;
• the additional capital buffer is supported by almost all MEPs;
• on treasury bonds, some MEPs want to modify the risk weight of the bonds. Karas stressed the need to be careful in order to avoid creating a pro-cyclical effect;
• on liquidity buffers, the implementation timetable is an issue for certain MEPs;
• on flexibility, Karas proposed that under certain conditions Member States may go beyond the CRD IV proposal. However, if a Member State decides to go beyond CRD IV, it will have to explain why it is doing it to the Commission.

Karas said that he will try to cover most of the concerns during the compromise negations, and announced that he will not meet stakeholders at this stage of the process.

Shadow rapporteur, Udo Bullmann (S&D, DE), believes that there is a need to protect SMEs, and the S&D groups fully support a less punitive risk weight for SMEs. He also highlighted that the S&D Group does not want to have an internal banking market with different rules that will create disadvantages. On the timeline, Bullmann agreed that there is need to act quickly but at the same time high quality legislation should be guaranteed.

Shadow rapporteur, Sharon Bowles (ALDE, UK), understands the need to stick to the ambitious timetable but at the same time MEPs should not rush too much with such a complex dossier. Bowles mentioned that there is a need to introduce a link to the resolutions plans in the CRD IV/CRR proposals. She wants consistency with what has been done in EMIR.

Vicky Ford (ECR, UK) agrees with the need to stick to timetable. Ford stressed that if flexibility for Member States is introduced, it should be guaranteed that there will not be negative cross-border spill-overs. Ford supports the amendments on SMEs, trade finance as well as on the CVA. She concluded by saying that many Member States have not properly implemented CRD III and this should be the starting point of the ECON committee debate on capital requirements.

Shadow rapporteur, Philippe Lamberts (Greens, BE), also agrees that the timetable should not be delayed. On remuneration, he believes that if policymakers are demanding wages moderation in Member States, banks should also be subjected to the same salary reductions.

Next steps:

• Vote in ECON: 24-25 April 2012
• Plenary: June/July

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