With the European Commission due to present a new action plan on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) on 28 October, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) set out their expectations and recommendations on Thursday 10 September by adopting, by a vote of by 37 to 10, the draft own-initiative report (see EUROPE 12512/13) drawn up by Spanish MEP Isabel Benjumea (EPP).
“This report sends a strong signal to the potential new Commissioner, Mairead McGuinness”, French MEP Stéphanie Yon-Courtin, negotiator on behalf of the Renew Europe group, told EUROPE, welcoming in particular the recommendations to support equity financing for European SMEs and companies, to foster a culture of equity investment among European citizens, and to ensure that sustainable finance is at the heart of the re-launch of the CMU agenda.
Indeed, Parliament’s political groups have agreed to call for several targeted changes to improve financing on capital markets. The final text also encourages the creation of a large pan-European private fund to support SMEs, an ‘IPO (‘Initial Public Offering’) Fund’.
It also calls for the accelerated development of European venture capital markets and invites the Commission to draw up a legislative proposal on “European secured notes” (ESN) as a new financing instrument that could help to improve access to finance for SMEs.
On consumer protection, MEPs call for a more horizontal and harmonised approach to investor protection in EU financial services legislation.
It should be noted that the text stresses the need to reform the governance structure of the European Financial Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) in order to make them more independent from national supervisors. In particular, it calls on the Commission to consider gradually granting the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) direct supervisory powers over certain market segments such as central counterparties and central securities depositories in the EU as well as increased powers of intervention on products.
It also stresses “the need to appoint a single European supervisor, in cooperation with the relevant national competent authorities, based on a common rulebook and product intervention powers for oversight on crypto-asset related activities with a significant cross-border element in the EU”.
Finally, the final text does not fail to mention the recent accounting scandal involving the German payment service provider Wirecard (see EUROPE 12535/15). MEPs also call on the Commission to assess the extent to which this scandal can be attributed to shortcomings in the European regulatory framework in the area of audit and supervision, and whether direct supervision at European level in specific areas could have prevented the affair. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)