The European Commission is conducting a review of existing rules in all financial services Directives to determine their impact on cross-border consolidation in the EU banking sector. As part of that review, the Commission has asked the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) to evaluate the supervisory process for approving acquisitions of qualifying holdings in credit institutions.
The Commission has asked CEBS to focus in particular on the criteria used by national supervisory authorities in deciding when to oppose the acquisition of a qualifying holding on the grounds that the acquisition could threaten the “sound and prudent management” of the target institution.
CEBS believes that its advice to the Commission should be informed by the views of the industry on potential obstacles to cross-border consolidation in the EU, and has designed a public questionnaire to solicit input to its technical work. The questionnaire asks the banking industry and other market participants to identify potential obstacles to cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the EU banking sector; to indicate their relative importance; and to comment on their relationship to regulation of the banking sector. Respondents are also asked to identify any legal provisions whose issuance, amendment, or deletion would remove obstacles to cross-border mergers and acquisitions.
The questionnaire is available on the CEBS website at www.c-ebs.org. Interested parties are asked to respond by April 30, 2005.
Questionnaire on cross-border mergers
Press Contact:
Mr. Jouko Marttila
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E-mail: jouko.marttila@c-ebs.org
Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) is comprised of high level representatives from the banking supervisory authorities and central banks of the European Union. CEBS main tasks are to advise the Commission in the field of banking activities, to contribute to the consistent implementation of Community Directives and to the convergence of supervisory practices and to enhance supervisory co-operation. The Committee is chaired by Mr José-María Roldán. The CEBS Secretariat is based in London. The Secretary General of the Committee is Mr Andrea Enria.