The European Central Bank (ECB) announced, on Wednesday 29 July, its intention to change the organisational structure of its supervisory arm, decided in 2013, “to ensure continued effective and efficient supervision of banks in the euro area and beyond”.
After six years of experience in this area, the ECB wants to refine its banking supervision to make it more risk-sensitive. “The new structure will strengthen the ECB’s role as a prudent, efficient and transparent supervisor for the benefit of all - customers, banks and investors”, said Andrea Enria, Chair of the ECB's Supervisory Board.
To this end, the monetary institute intends to strengthen cooperation between bank-specific and thematic surveillance teams. The changes will also include the creation of two additional business areas within the ECB's banking supervision branch - bringing the total to seven - and the redistribution of tasks between the business areas.
The specific supervision of banks will also be reorganised according to banks' business models and will be supported by teams of risk or subject matter experts. In particular, branches for Systemic and International Banks, Universal and Diversified Institutions as well as for Specialised and Less Significant Institutions will be set up.
“The changes will be headcount-neutral and cost-neutral”, the ECB said. They should be completed in the fourth quarter of 2020. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)