Brussels, 25/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission have agreed on the re-establishment of the Inter-institutional Monitoring Group for financial services in order to cover the extended Lamfalussy process until December 2007. The Monitoring Group is composed of six independent experts from the private sector, of whom each institution has nominated two. It has a mandate to assess progress in implementing the “Lamfalussy process” to create a more efficient system for the EU institutions to prepare, adopt and implement new legislation to integrate financial markets. The Lamfalussy approach has been recognized as instrumental for integrating EU capital markets. The Monitoring Group has the important task in helping all of us to make this process work to the best possible extent, and to identify possible bottlenecks. The previous Inter-institutional Monitoring Group, covering securities markets, was set up in October 2002. By 2004 it had published three reports monitoring the Lamfalussy process. Following the extension of the Lamfalussy process to other financial services sectors (banking, insurance, occupational pensions and UCITS) the Monitoring Group has been re-established under an extended mandate to consider developments in the three sectors (banking, insurance, securities). The members nominated by the European Parliament are: Karl-Peter SCHACKMANN-FALLIS (Germany), CEO of German Savings Banks Association; Freddy VAN DEN SPIEGEL (Belgium), Chief Economist and Director of Public Affairs, Fortis Bank. The Council of the European Union nominated as members: Johnny ÅKERHOLM (Finland), President and CEO of the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB); Rainer MASERA (Italy), Chairman of RFI Rete Ferroviaria Italiana. The European Commission nominated: Mark HARDING (United Kingdom), Group General Counsel, Barclays; Pierre DE LAUZUN (France), Chief Executive, French Association of Investment Companies (AFEI) and Deputy Director General, French Banking Federation (FBF).
In late November 2004, the European Commission launched a consultation process on the impact of the Lamfalussy process to secure a more effective regulatory system for securities markets. A report was published on the outcome of the consultation in late April 2005, noting that the participants tended to back the Monitoring Group's work and wanted it to look at financial services as a whole. There was, however, no consensus about extending the Group's mandate to cover stability and financial supervision in order to avoid duplicating the powers of the Financial Services Committee and the Economic and Financial Committee. Several participants in the consultation exercise pointed out that it would be useful to submit study of the impact of the Constitutional Treaty to a Lamfalussy type process.
The Lamfalussy method involves a four-level approach splitting up decision-making powers depending on the type of financial services legislation being adopted. Lamfalussy himself was the chair of the Committee of the Wise studying the regulation of the European securities markets, which drew up a series of recommendations in February 2001 on reforming the EU financial services markets (see EUROPE 7904). In November 2004, the ECOFIN Council extended the Lamfalussy Approach to pensions schemes, banking and insurance (see EUROPE 8829).