As you will be aware from Regulatory Roundup #15, the European Commission has proposed the establishment of a European System of Financial Supervisors (ESFS) which will be composed of national supervisors and three new European Supervisory Authorities (ESA). The latter will be created by the transformation of the three existing Committees that represent the regulators of securities (CESR), banking (CEBS) and insurance and occupational pensions (CEIOPS). Regulatory Roundup #15 provided further details on changes in European supervision.
Although the original intention was to base the three new ESAs in Frankfurt, it has been announced that the new banking authority – European Banking Authority (EBA) – will be based in London where the CEBS Secretariat is currently based.
Dan Waters suggested in his recent speech (10 June 2010) that national authorities will be expected to carry on their supervisory role with the ESAs generally performing a co-ordination function within the EU. A recent meeting of the European Council Committee (Ecofin) meeting confirmed that ESAs will not overrule national regulators.
