On the evening of Tuesday 17 December, negotiators from the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached an agreement on the simplification of reporting requirements in the field of financial services. The co-legislators agreed to broaden the scope of the European Commission’s initial proposal.
As a result, not only the three European Supervisory Authorities (‘ESMA’, ‘EBA’, ‘EIOPA’) responsible for supervising the financial sector in the EU, but also the Single Resolution Board (‘SRB’), responsible for resolving big European banks, and the Single Supervisory Mechanism (‘SSM’), responsible for direct supervision of big banks, will be subject to the new rules.
However, as far as the SSM Mechanism is concerned, the national authorities of the participating Member States will not be involved, which the European Commissioner for the Savings and Investment Union, Maria Luís Albuquerque, regrets. “We need to go further and reduce the burden even further, not only at EU level, but also within the Member States”, she said in a statement on Wednesday.
In line with the EU Council’s proposal (see EUROPE 13435/4), the agreement reached on Tuesday also includes the European Systemic Risk Board (‘ESRB’) in the scope of application. The European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (‘AMLA’) will also be taken into account, although the Council of the EU was not in favour.
The revised regulatory framework provides for easier information sharing between these supervisory authorities in order to eliminate obsolete, disproportionate or redundant declarations. The co-legislators also agreed to reduce the frequency of reporting on the InvestEU programme (see EUROPE 13494/17).
Parliament’s chief negotiator (see EUROPE 13338/23), Paulius Saudargas (EPP, Lithuanian), welcomed the political compromise reached in favour of a broader scope for the legislative text and said he was “optimistic” about its formal adoption by the co-legislators.
“I am confident that Better Data Sharing and its provisions will contribute to achieving the objectives outlined by the European Commission President and clearly articulated in the Draghi report: namely, reducing administrative burden and simplifying procedures within the European Union [...] the European Parliament has advocated for an even more ambitious and accelerated approach in this regard”, said Mr Saudargas. (Original version in French by Bernard Denuit)