The German deputy governor of the Bundesbank, Claudia Buch, tried to convince MEPs, on Wednesday 20 September, that she is the best person to head, starting in January 2024, the Single Supervisory Board, the European authority within the ECB responsible for directly supervising the major banks within the euro area banking union.
“I am fit for this job. Otherwise, I would not have applied”, said Ms Buch. She drew on her ten years of experience at the Bundesbank, which had given her both micro- and macro-prudential experience on banking supervision.
The representatives of the political groups, with the exception of the EPP and Renew Europe, regretted that the ECB Governing Council had not taken into account the informal recommendation of the coordinators of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, who had indicated their preference for the other candidate, Margarita Delgado from Spain. Some consider that the choice of Ms Buch is likely to favour the candidacy of the Spanish Finance Minister, Nadia Calviño, for the presidency of the EIB (see EUROPE 13251/10).
The most outspoken critics were Spain’s Jónas Fernández (S&D) and Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA), who showed their independence from the political negotiations underway. Rereading the article setting out the procedure for appointing the Chair of the Supervisory Board, Mr Fernández asked Ms Buch whether she could apply for the post while still a deputy member of the ECB’s Executive Board.
It is “perfectly clear” that, if I am definitively appointed, I will resign from my current position in order to respect the separation between monetary policy and banking supervision, she said.
Asked if she felt comfortable in these circumstances, Ms Buch said she understood “the concerns” but did not wish to get involved in the political game, preferring to focus on the content of the position she aspired to. She promised to take action to strengthen a common supervisory culture, to work for financial stability and to establish sincere cooperation with the Parliament, a “crucial ally” in the completion of banking union in the euro area.
As successor to Italy’s Andrea Enria, Ms Buch has set herself three objectives: - push the banking sector to adapt to “an unpredictable environment” that is giving rise to new risks (geopolitical, climatic, interest rate); - make supervision “more proactive”; - cooperate closely with all stakeholders, including the European Parliament and the Single Resolution Board (SRB).
In response to a question from Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew Europe, French), Ms Buch advocated strengthening the ‘resolution’ pillar of the banking union and building up the ‘deposit guarantee’ pillar. “The more credible we are with resolution, the easier it is for supervision”, she said, convinced that the ultimate threat of being excluded from the market must exist. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)