Amendment to the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) to incorporate modifications to the BASEL framework and findings from various reviews required under CRR. (working title)

Key points:

The EESC

• very much welcomes the Commission’s package of proposals and hopes that it will contribute effectively to complementing the work done after the crisis to reform the financial sector.

• warmly welcomes the underlying holistic and integrated approach: several major objectives in various fields are unified and reconciled in these proposals, without disregarding the principles.

• believes that the proposed measures will undoubtedly help strengthen Europe’s prudential and resolution framework for banks. This is crucial to the objective of reducing risk in the financial sector and enhancing the resilience of the institutions. 

• is convinced that the risk-reducing nature of these proposals will enable progress to be made in further realizing the Banking Union and its third pillar, the European Deposit Insurance Scheme. Doing so, these proposals will make a positive contribution to the continued restoration of client and consumer confidence in the financial sector.

• also strongly welcomes the attention paid to the financing of the economy. As the current level of investment remains insufficient, no opportunity should be missed to create new and additional opportunities for an economic recovery. Banks have an important role to play as intermediaries in capital markets and bank loans will undoubtedly remain in the future the main source of funding for households and SMEs. More efforts should be made in this field in favor of SMEs, who are the backbone of the European economy. The Committee calls for the confirmation and further expansion of the "SME supporting factor".

• feels that the specific features and possibilities of small and non-complex banks are still not being sufficiently taken into account. This concerns in particular the proportionality principle. A more structured and comprehensive approach is crucial here, to the benefit of more institutions and in more fields. No excessively heavy obligations or burdens should be imposed on this kind of institutions.

• welcomes the fact that account has been taken of a number of specific features of the EU. This is the case, inter alia, with the adjustments to the international agreements in order to take care of European specificities.

• considers that it remains important for Europe to play a leading role in ongoing and future international work on the reform of the financial sector.
• feels that it is in the interest of all players and stakeholders that clarity and legal certainty be sought in the development of the new rules, for which, moreover, a sufficient implementation timeframe should be provided.
• considers it desirable that the legal transition measures concerning the new International Financial Reporting Standards - IFRS 9 - be finalised swiftly, in order to avoid potential negative effects on the financing of the economy.