On November 8, 2017, the European Central Bank published a Report on the supervision of less significant institutions under the Single Supervisory Mechanism. The SSM is made up of the ECB and national regulators of Eurozone member states, and is responsible for the prudential supervision of all banks in the euro area. The ECB directly supervises the larger firms, classified as significant institutions, and national regulators directly supervise the less significant institutions, subject to the oversight of the ECB. The ECB is also responsible for certain common procedures, such as the granting and withdrawal of authorization and the acquisition of qualifying holdings in SSM firms.
The ECB can issue guidelines, regulations or general instructions to the SSM national regulators or even take over the direct supervision of a less significant institution (at its own initiative or at the request of the national regulator). The ECB's Report discusses the main concerns for less significant institutions, which include competition, and suggests that less significant firms may choose to consolidate businesses to improve profitability. The Report also sets out the steps that the SSM supervisory functions have taken towards harmonizing supervisory approaches to level the playing field, and highlights that the key challenge that needs to be addressed is the use of different accounting systems because that hinders comparability of data between the firms. Finally, the ECB indicates that it is developing specific policy positions and operational guidance on issues relevant to Brexit and the likely relocation of some activities of UK firms moving into the Eurozone.
The report is available at: https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/ecb/pub/pdf/ssm.reportlsisupervision2017.en.pdf.
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