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The ECB took over regulation of the region's biggest banks late last year, but Julie Dickson, a member of the bank's supervisory board, said national laws empowering authorities in member countries still interfere with its work.
Dickson singled out a German draft law that delegates certain regulatory powers to the ministry of finance. "In my opinion, national legislation empowering national authorities to issue binding prudential legislation interferes with the ECB’s competences," Dickson said. "If this practice increases, the harmonization and the establishment of uniform conditions of competition will be hampered significantly."
The ECB has no power to compel national governments to cede their regulatory authority over banks, which Dickson seemed to acknowledge. She said nations had great discretion regarding the quality and composition of bank capital and these rules, many of which are enshrined in local legislation, make it difficult for the supervisor to fulfil its mandate.
National laws need to be harmonized to help the ECB do its job, Dickson said -- it needs to be the only supervisor for large banks in the euro zone. "It is the ECB’s view that it should be the exclusive competent authority to exercise supervisory powers vis-à-vis significant banks, including those powers that are laid down in national law," Dickson said. "We are calling for a degree of additional convergence in European bank regulation to help us meet our goals."