Brussels, 24/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 24 March, the Commissioner for Financial Services, Jonathan Hill, pledged to do all in his power to put finance to work in service of growth and employment, at a dialogue with the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament.
“If it is possible to do anything to contribute to more growth and employment, I will do all I can to put in place the necessary tools. This is a question I ask myself every day”, said Hill. He repeated his intention to study the cumulative impact on growth of the financial rules adopted since the crisis of 2008 (see EUROPE 11266) and to identify the “ongoing obstacles” which limit the capacity of consumers of financial products to access the best services at the best possible price. This angle -consumer protection - has also been taken into account in the work on the Capital Markets Union (CMU), the Commissioner also stressed.
Referring to the consultation underway on ways of diversifying the financing of the economy in Europe, particularly by non-banking actors, Hill did not deny the fact that the work underpinning the CMU is not in itself new, but stressed that it was appropriate to tackle it with “renewed energy”. He reiterated that legislative proposals will be forthcoming “in the course of 2015”, to promote quality financial securitisation and adapt the 'prospectuses' directive (see EUROPE 11256). We have to ensure that the measures taken are proportionate and that the banking actors are also stakeholders, he added.
Neena Gill (S&D, UK) urged the Commissioner to “pick up the pace” and not to wait for 2019 to set the Capital Markets Union (CMU) in place. The rapporteur on the proposal covering the monetary funds, she echoed Hill's words calling upon the Council of the EU to lose no time in tackling this dossier and to be in a position to start negotiations with the EP very soon (see EUROPE 11263).
On the controversial dossier of the structure of the banking sector, the Commissioner said that the EU must adopt “additional tools” to tackle the issue of banks which are 'too big to fail' (see EUROPE 11268 and 11235). “We must move forward with the legislative proposal” on the table, he said.
Finally, Hill once again told Brian Hayes (EPP, Ireland) that he was in favour of increased and early regulatory cooperation with the United States and that he feels that this could be achieved by including a 'financial services' chapter in the transatlantic trade negotiations currently underway (see EUROPE 11263). (Mathieu Bion)