Brussels, 01/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - At an informal ECOFIN Council recently, the European Commission gave operational details about the setting up of the three new European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs), one for banking, one for insurance and one for securities, that will start work on 1 January 2011 (see EUROPE 10220). Under a budgetary proposal unveiled in April 2010, the Commission expects the authorities to have around a hundred members of staff each by 2015. The staff and budget forecasts for 2011 are: - European Banking Authority (EBA) 47 staff members and a budget of € 12.54 million; - European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) 47 staff members and a budget of €10.55 million; and the European Securitises Markets Authority (ESMA) 54 members of staff and a budget of €14.16 million.
The numbers employed by the ESAs will rise as the ESAs are given greater powers. In the June 210 draft legislation, ESMA is given the power to supervise financial ratings agencies registered in the European Union and the Commission suggests that it should have 12 additional members of staff, alongside the 54 mentioned above. These extra staff are estimated to cost around €2.5 million a year, which will come from fees to be paid by ratings agencies registered in the EU. The European Commission's internal market department believes that each ESA will need to employ a further six individuals. The Commission will introduce new draft legislation later this month that might be adopted by the budgetary authority in December.
Some 60% of each ESA budget will come from the member states, with the remaining 40% provided by the Commission. Each country's calculation is worked out in terms of its vote weighting at the EU Council of Ministers. The Commission knows that the recruitment procedure for the chair and managing director of the three ESAs will not be completed in time for the 1 January 2011 start date, but hopes to fill the posts within three months. The recruitment procedure cannot start until the final ESA legislation is passed (expected for the upcoming ECOFIN Council in a fortnight). (M.B./transl.fl)