ECB Annual Report on supervisory activities

4 Organisational set-up of <strong>ECB</strong> Banking
Supervision
In 2016 the Supervisory Board and the Governing Council took about 1,800
decisions through the non-objection procedure. As in the previous year, most of
these decisions concerned fit and proper assessments of bank managers. Given the
high number of decisions, the <strong>ECB</strong> took steps to further streamline the decisionmaking
process. Most importantly, it designed a framework for the adoption of
certain types of supervisory decisions by means of delegation.
Regulatory fragmentation in the
euro area poses a challenge to
European banking supervision
Decision-making is still challenged by the diverse ways in which the Member States
have transposed CRD IV into national law. This results in regulatory fragmentation,
which hampers the work of European banking supervision towards ensuring a level
playing field. It also increases bureaucracy and raises costs, as it requires the <strong>ECB</strong>
to build expertise in each of the 19 different national legislative frameworks. The
regulatory framework is further being fragmented because some Member States are
converting non-binding supervisory practices into binding legal acts. In addition,
national transpositions of CRD IV and national regulatory requirements that go
beyond EU law have, in some cases, led to a debate about the <strong>ECB</strong>'s exact
supervisory powers. In 2016 the <strong>ECB</strong>, in close cooperation with the European
Commission, clarified the delineation of the <strong>ECB</strong>’s and the NCAs’ respective
competences, identifying the cases in which the <strong>ECB</strong> is directly competent to
exercise supervisory powers granted under national law.
4.1 Discharging of accountability requirements
<strong>ECB</strong> Banking Supervision
continued to engage closely with
the European Parliament and the
EU Council
This <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> has been produced as one of <strong>ECB</strong> Banking Supervision’s main
accountability channels in accordance with the SSM Regulation. The Regulation
provides that the conferral of supervisory tasks on the <strong>ECB</strong> should be balanced by
appropriate transparency and accountability requirements. Maintaining and fostering
the accountability framework – established on the basis of the Interinstitutional
Agreement between the European Parliament and the <strong>ECB</strong> and the Memorandum of
Understanding between the EU Council and the <strong>ECB</strong> – continued to be among the
<strong>ECB</strong>’s priorities in 2016.
With regard to the European Parliament, in 2016 the Chair of the Supervisory Board
spoke before Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs for the
presentation of the 2015 <strong>ECB</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> on supervisory activities (22 March),
two ordinary public hearings (13 June and 9 November), and three ad hoc
exchanges of views (22 March, 13 July and 9 November). Among the key issues
discussed were non-performing loans, the SREP and legislative dossiers in the area
of banking supervision.
<strong>ECB</strong> <strong>Annual</strong> <strong>Report</strong> on supervisory activities 2016 − Organisational set-up of <strong>ECB</strong> Banking
Supervision 51