Supervisory body will have tough intervention powers
The European Parliament has approved plans for a new EU insurance and pensions regulator.
The Strasbourg parliament rubberstamped proposals today for the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (Eiopa), one of three new supervisory bodies being established as part of a wider overhaul of EU financial regulation.
Eiopa will have tougher powers than the Committee for European Insurance and Occupational Supervisors (Ceiops), which it will replace.
These include powers to settle disputes between national financial supervisors and to impose temporary bans on risky financial products and activities.
If a national supervisor fails to act on breaches of EU law, the authority may also impose decisions directly on financial institutions, so as to remedy breaches of EU law.
In the event of disagreements between national supervisors, Eiopa will be able to impose legally-binding mediation and to impose supervisory decisions on the financial institution concerned. It will also be able to intervene without being requested by one of the national supervisors.
The new powers were agreed following negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which represents member states.
Eiopa and its two fellow European supervisory authorities will have to report to a new European Systemic Risk Board which will provide macro-prudential oversight of the financial system.
Commenting on today’s decision by the European Parliament, Ceiops chair Gabriel Bernardino said: “We now start a new chapter for the supervision of the EU financial market. The political agreement reached today provides the backbone for a new EU supervisory system that will ensure a true level playing field for all actors at Union level and reflect the increasing integration of financial markets in the Union.
“This is a unique opportunity which supervisors must seize in order to ensure the stability of the financial system as well as the protection of insurance policyholders, pension scheme members and beneficiaries. Furthermore, the new system will act as catalyst for the Solvency II framework, soon to be implemented in the EU insurance sector.”
