ECB Publishes the Response of the Eurosystem to the European Commission's Call for Evidence on the EU Regulatory Framework for Financial Services
On February 4, the European Central Bank ("ECB") published a response of the ECB and the national central banks of member states of the eurozone (Eurosystem) to the European Commission's call for evidence on the EU regulatory framework for financial services.
The Eurosystem's response makes the following remarks:
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the financial crisis led to much-needed and far-reaching reform of the European regulatory framework and a redesign of its supervisory architecture;
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the regulatory framework for banks is largely in place, but a few important initiatives on the regulatory agenda for banks and the non-bank sector still need to be finished;
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initiatives to support the financing of the economy should maintain the robustness of the regulatory framework which resulted from the post-crisis reforms;
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reaping long-term benefits implies both assuming temporary costs that emerge in the transitional period and complementing regulation with measures to correct any unintended long-term impacts that are identified;
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it is important to ensure that regulations are able to preserve financial stability, while leaving sufficient room for markets to develop and fully play their role in the economy; and
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the European exercise should take into account ongoing initiatives at the international level.
The Eurosystem's response aims to provide evidence from recent impact studies of the effects of the new regulatory framework and to highlight areas where possible improvements could be made, including: (i) rules affecting the ability of the economy to finance itself and to grow; (ii) unnecessary regulatory burdens; (iii) interactions of individual rules, as well as inconsistencies and gaps in the existing regulations; and (iv) rules giving rise to unintended consequences. Response.
BCBS Finalizes Revised General Guide to Account Opening
On February 4, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision ("BCBS") published a revised draft of its guidelines on "sound management of risks related to money laundering and financing of terrorism" which comprises the Guidelines issued in January 2014 and the addition of a new Annex IV – General Guide to Account Opening.
Annex IV is intended to focus on some of the mechanisms that banks can use in developing an effective consumer identification and verification programme and sets out the information that should be collected at the time of account opening. BCBS acknowledges that customer identification and verification policies and procedures will differ to reflect risks arising from the relevant categories of customers, products and services.
Annex IV is divided into two substantive sections: the first deals with what types of information should be collected and verified for natural persons seeking to open accounts; and the second describes what types of information should be collected and verified for legal persons and legal arrangements. Guidelines.
EIOPA Publishes Consultation Paper on the Development of an EU Single Market for Person Pension Products
On February 1, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority ("EIOPA") published a consultation paper on its advice on the development of an EU Single Market for personal pension products ("PPP"). This consultation is in response to EIOPA's 2014 preliminary report "Towards an EU-Single Market for personal pensions" and EIOPA's 2015 consultation paper on the creation of a standardised Pan-European Personal Pension product.
EIOPA is asking:
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Would PPPs benefit from harmonisation of provider governance standards?
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Would PPPs benefit from harmonisation of product governance rules?
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Would PPPs benefit from harmonisation of distribution rules?
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Would PPPs benefit from harmonisation in disclosure rules?
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Are respondents aware of any differences in prudential regimes that would lead to an unlevel playing field amongst PPP providers?
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Are further supervisory powers necessary?
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Do respondents agree with EIOPA's assessment of the policy options' impacts?
The Consultation Paper is open for responses until April 26 and such responses will be published on EIOPA's public website. Consultation Paper.
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