12 September 2006

Speech McCreevy: Improving the supervisory approval process for mergers and acquisitions

Commenting on the publication for the Commissions’ draft proposal on the supervisory approval for M&As Commissioner McCreevy underlined the intention that: 'These new rules … leave no room for political interference or protectionism.” The new rules will introduce specific deadlines and formal communications “ensuring both efficiency and transparency throughout the assessment process.'

“Until now, EU rules have allowed supervisory authorities to block proposed mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector on the grounds of 'suitability of the proposed acquirer'; unfortunately, these rules did not provide any clarity on what an assessment for 'suitability' should entail”.

“The new rules mean that supervisory authorities will have to be clear, transparent and consistent when assessing mergers and acquisitions, domestic or cross-border, in the financial sector.

“The amending Directive introduces clear procedural rules and a closed list of criteria for the conduct of supervisory assessments of proposed acquisitions;

“The amending Directive Given the clearer definition of the scope of the assessment, the period allowed for the latter has been reduced from three months to thirty working days.

“There is also a requirement for co-operation between supervisors of the acquirer and the target if indeed the initiative involves regulated entities on both sides.

“I can confirm, that in view of the potential for further consolidation in the area of stock exchanges and in view also of the parallelism between provisions for investment firms and regulated markets, the Commission will consider urgently whether it is necessary and possible to extend the procedures and criteria established in the current proposal to regulated markets.

Full speech

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