Financial supervision in the EU: Commission launches targeted consultation to assess the functioning of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs)

The European Commission has launched today a targeted consultation on the functioning of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). The European system of financial supervision consists of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) and three European supervisory authorities (ESAs), namely: the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). Financial supervision is mainly carried out by the national competent authorities and the role of ESAs is to ensure supervisory convergence. Today’s consultation will take stock of supervisory practices among national supervisors, supervisory convergence and how the EU’s single rulebook works in practice. It will seek targeted views on certain aspects related to the 2019 ESAs review, such as amendments of existing tools (e.g. peer reviews), conferred new tasks (e.g. establishing common Union strategic supervisory priorities) or governance changes. The results of this consultation will feed into a report reviewing the ESAs, which is required under the ESAs founding Regulations, and was also outlined in the September 2020 Capital Markets Union Action Plan. This report aims to contribute to a wider debate on supervisory convergence and the functioning of the EU single rulebook for financial services. Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and Capital Markets Union, said: “Developing the supervisory framework for increasingly integrated capital markets requires careful consideration and a broad consultation of stakeholders. Convergent supervision and coordination of national supervisors is necessary if we want to have a genuine level playing field for all market players and ensure financial stability and investor protection. This will be particularly true in a post-Brexit world, with multiple financial centres operating across the EU”. The text is available online here and you can submit feedback for 10 weeks.