Deal on better data sharing and less red tape for the EU financial sector
- Growing demand for data makes it necessary to gather them in a consistent and standardised way across the financial sector.
- More supervisory authorities in scope
- Removing obsolete or double reporting and disclosure requirements to minimise costs
The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee struck a deal with the Council on new rules to avoid double reporting and reduce the administrative burden for the EU financial sector.
Negotiators from the ECON and the Council agreed to enlarge the scope of the original Commission proposal. MEPs made sure that not only three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) responsible for supervision in the financial sector in the EU, but also the Single Resolution Board (SRB) responsible for resolving banks in distress and the European Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) would be obliged to follow new rules. In line with the Council proposal, European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) is also in the scope. Finally, the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) was added to the scope of the new rules, excluding national authorities of the participating member states. The authorities should regularly review the reporting and disclosure requirements in order to remove those that are obsolete, disproportionate or duplicative.
The EP negotiating team also assured that the authorities in scope would strive for the “report once” principle, so that information from financial institutions or other reporting entities is only reported once to one of these authorities. The authorities would share and reuse this information while safeguarding data protection, professional secrecy and intellectual property. They should designate a permanent single contact point for entities to indicate double, obsolete or redundant reporting and disclosure requirements.
Building on the sectoral work by the ESAs to integrate reporting, within five years the authorities will prepare a report on the feasibility and cost/benefits analysis of a cross-sectoral integrated reporting system.
Paulius Saudargas (EPP, LT), the lead MEP said: “I am confident that Better Data Sharing (BDS) and its provisions will contribute to achieving the objectives outlined by the European Commission President and clearly articulated in the Draghi report: namely, reducing administrative burden and simplifying procedures within the European Union. This will help facilitate the data reporting for financial institutions and data exchange among authorities.
While a political compromise has been reached, and I remain hopeful that the file will be formally adopted by both the Parliament and the Council, it is important to note that the European Parliament has advocated for an even more ambitious and accelerated approach in this regard. Together with the EP negotiating team, I am pleased that, following intensive negotiations, we successfully agreed to extend the scope of BDS to include the SRB, AMLA, and SSM”.