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18 November 2009

DG MARKT's Holmquist: “First discussions on ESA’s in Council are well led by the Swedish Presidency”


Speaking to the Special CRIS Committee in the European Parliament, he highlighted that the reforms proposed by the Commission are linked to global reforms and set a clear course for the EU to lead and shape the work of the G-20.

Holmquist presented the work done by the Commission to avoid making the same mistakes that have resulteded in the current crisis.

The Commission has built on the suggestions for regulatory repair made by the group of wise men chaired by Jacques de Larosière.
 
The underlying purpose of these reforms is to ensure:

- that financial institutions will have the strength to survive in tough times of crisis of the kind experienced over the last year;
- that all relevant actors and all types of financial instrument are subject to appropriate regulation and oversight;
- that systemic risks be addressed appropriately; and
- to strengthen European coordination of micro-prudential financial supervision.
 
The reforms proposed by the Commission are firmly linked to global reforms and set a clear course for the EU to lead and shape the work of the G-20.
 
Concerning the ESA’s he mentioned that the three authorities will ensure that in the supervision of individual financial institutions, national supervisors agree on common rules and will come to agree on common binding decisions. They co-operate closely in particular during times of the crisis. First discussions in Council are well led by the Swedish Presidency, but some Member States want to substantially reduce the level of ambition, and to also significantly limit the powers that could be entrusted to the authorities. This would lead to the creation of paper tigers. Thus being to the detriment of financial stability and to the consumer. The Commission therefore counts very much on the Parliament to maintain the high level of ambition of our proposals. 
The Commission has proposed a comprehensive and robust regulatory framework for all types of Alternative Investment Fund Managers in the EU. This proposal responds to many of the requests contained in the Parliament's reports on hedge funds and private equity.

Work in the Council is progressing quickly, while the Commission is committed to working closely with the Parliament to ensure that the result is balanced and workable, but we now need to hear the Parliament's views, in order to make progress on this file. The Commission also has to work with its international partners to achieve an appropriate level of consistency in global approaches.
 
He concluded by saying that “it is crucial - particularly in times of crisis - to support consumer confidence in the financial system. Guarantee schemes played an important role to prevent an even greater loss of confidence in financial markets at the peak of the crisis. But the coordination between national guarantee schemes was often insufficient, and we will therefore propose further measures to reinforce guarantee schemes.”
 
 


© European Commission


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