Addressing the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament on Wednesday 9 November, the commissioner for financial services, Valdis Dombrovskis, discussed the revision of the banking prudential rules (legislative package CRD IV-CRR), which is expected for the end of the month.
In particular, this revision will aim to make the European rules "more proportionate" in order to stimulate the financing of the economy, but without losing sight of their prudential objectives, Dombrovskis explained.
In the framework of its work to analyse the cumulative impact of the financial legislation, the European Commission is planning to further relax the capital requirements in order to stimulate lending to SMEs, to grant exemptions for banks with limited trading activities from certain capital requirements and to reduce the transparency requirements for smaller banks.
The legislative revision will also make it possible to embed the TLAC prudential standard, an additional capital buffer agreed at G20 level, into Community law. With the proposal we are to present this month, "we'll be delivering on our international commitment", the commissioner said. The aim is to bring the TLAC standard, applicable to the 30 largest systemic banks, into line with the MREL standard to be observed by all European banks, "so that there are no mismatches between frameworks", he added.
Retail financial services. Following on from the Green Paper on retail financial services (see EUROPE 11450), Dombrovskis said that in early 2017, the Commission will present a series of actions to remove the barriers to cross-border service provision, make it easier to compare products and ensure that the recourse mechanisms work right across the single market.
As part of the work on the Capital Markets Union, the Commission will in the coming weeks present a legislative initiative to facilitate a restructuring of debt considered viable, in order to give the companies in question a second chance (see EUROPE 11624). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)