BCBS issues the final version of paper on supervisory colleges

12 October 2010

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has issued a set of principles which aims to promote and strengthen the operation of supervisory colleges.The paper supplements guidance issued by the Basel Committee on cross-border cooperation and information-sharing for both home and host supervisors.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision today issued the final version of its paper Good Practice on Supervisory Colleges.

Supervisory colleges play a central role in supporting the supervision of international banking groups. While they are not a substitute for effective national supervision, the principles aim to strengthen international cooperation and supervision of internationally active banks by promoting the adoption of established good practices for operating supervisory colleges. Among other things, the principles outline expectations that:

• acknowledge a college might have multiple or variable sub-structures based on the characteristics of the banking groups under consideration as well as the particular needs of home and host supervisors;
• emphasize the importance of leadership and governance by home supervisors in designing and coordinating the operation of colleges so as to support the effective supervision of international banking groups;
• provide guidance on the types of information to exchange, subject to legal, confidentiality and market sensitivity considerations, and the range of communication channels available for effective information sharing;
• promote specific areas of collaborative work among supervisors, as appropriate, at various levels of a college to facilitate effective consolidated supervision; and
• take into account the latest developments and policy-making work in response to the financial crisis. For example, colleges should form one of the building blocks for crisis management planning. They should also facilitate the process of identifying and disseminating information relevant to macroprudential analysis.

Mr Nout Wellink, Chairman of the Basel Committee and President of the Netherlands Bank, noted that "the financial crisis has underscored the challenges to home and host supervisors in the consolidated supervision of international banks. Besides strengthening supervisory cooperation and coordination at the bank-specific level, the implementation of these principles will further foster the increasingly important function of supervisory colleges in promoting financial stability at the macroprudential level."

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