ECON Committee: Exchange of views with Commissioner Barnier

22 November 2011

MEPs discussed with Barnier whether the EU needed to introduce similar rules to those being introduced in the UK and the US, to force banks to separate retail and investment banking. The rules were recommended by the Vickers banking commission in the UK and by Paul Volcker in the US.

Barnier said that the committee would examine whether banks' retail and investment banking activities should be separated. “It will have a look [at the] subject of the structure of banks and separation in risk management”, he said.

Barnier has postponed draft legislation designed to improve the quality of auditing. The plans, which are expected to include forcing companies to change their auditors every nine years, were supposed to come out yesterday but they have been delayed by at least a week to give the Commission more time to work on the text.

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