Brussels, 19/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - In a speech on Monday 17 October at the Central Bank of Ireland, Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said 'I am going to propose amendments to the relevant banking and insurance directives in order to guarantee that supervisors do not unduly obstruct cross-border consolidation,' but did not give any timetable indications. He said the 'results of the consultation launched by the Commission' on obstacles to cross-border consolidation (see EUROPE 8934) 'strongly confirm this: the companies which have tried to engage in cross-border mergers or acquisitions have identified the complexity of the approval process, the misuse of supervisory powers and the risks of political interference as major stumbling blocks.'
McCreevy said 'the Commission's White Paper on the overall financial services strategy, to be published before the end of November, will underscore the importance of supervisory convergence and of the reduction of compliance costs for firms operating in several Member States. The Committees of Supervisors have initiated some useful work in this field.' At the last ECOFIN Council, the chairs of the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), the European Committee of Occupations Pensions and Insurance, and the European Bank Supervisors Committee, submitted EU ministers with research on how to improve inter-regulatory cooperation (see EUROPE 9047).
Charlie McCreevy said the 'White Paper will… outline a strategy to foster greater integration of retail markets… What I will propose is to identify specific market segments and specific rules for which harmonisation is both necessary and feasible. Consumer credit, mortgages and asset management are three areas where more harmonisation should prove fruitful.'