CEBS organises a hearing on own funds

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) will be organizing its first international conference on 9 May 2007 in London. The main topics for discussion will be CEBS' progress since it was established three years ago, and the challenges lying ahead for EU banking supervision. CEBS will also be publishing the results of a major public survey to assess its performance.

Danièle Nouy, the chair of CEBS said: "We are proud to announce our first major conference. We have done a great deal of work in our first three years. We had a design phase, to map out what would be needed under the capital requirements directive (CRD), and we agreed rules for the prototype. We are now delivering the working model as it comes rolling off the production line across the EU. For me this conference should help raise awareness of all this work. I want an open and transparent dialogue with all of those who will be affected by what we are doing."

The overall results of the Ipsos MORI public survey to assess CEBS' performance suggest that most stakeholders are either happy, or fairly satisfied, with what they see coming out of CEBS and how the committee works. The results of this survey will be presented together with CEBS' own assessment and plans on how to address the issues that were raised.

Madame Nouy said: "We are of course pleased with this general assessment as it acknowledges the huge effort that has been made by the European banking supervisory community, in the first three years of the committee's life. We asked the industry to help us answer the question of how well CEBS has done, what we should do next, and how we should go about doing it. I'm hoping the conference will give me solid material to support our input to the EU-wide debate this year on the review of the Lamfalussy model. I am also conscious that behind the good headlines there is also a clear message that there is scope for improvement. I agree with this. We are exploring ways in which we can do better."

The conference will be addressed by high-level speakers, such as Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (ECB); Pervenche Bérès, Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament; Jörgen Holmquist, Director General Internal Market, European Commission; Johnny Åkerholm, Chair of the Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group (IIMG); David Vegara Figueras, Chair of the Financial Services Committee (FSC); Thierry Francq, from the French Ministry of Finance; Danièle Nouy, Chair of CEBS; Hugo Banziger, from Deutsche Bank; Freddy Van Den Spiegel, Fortis Bank; Guido Ravoet, Secretary General of the European Banking Federation and many others.

Notes for editors
The main topics for discussion at the Conference will be in panel sessions:
· Review of the Lamfalussy approach.
· Assessing CEBS' progress.
· Work on the Capital Requirements Directive.
· Enhancing cooperation in the implementation of Capital Requirements Directive.
· Future challenges for CEBS.
The four main challenges CEBS is facing in its work on Basel II and the CRD implementation are:
· Ensuring consistency in the implementation of the new capital adequacy framework in Member States.
· Pursuing convergence in supervisory practices related to Basel II.
· Shaping cooperation between home and host authorities in such a way as to streamline the supervisory process for cross-border groups.
· Shaping effective consultations, by working on a principle based regime, so as to be able to enhance the quality, consistency and effectiveness of the supervision.

The participants will include CEBS members and observers from 30 countries, representatives from the EU institutions, members of CEBS Consultative Panel, market participants and end-users, third countries' supervisors, representatives from the sister committees CESR and CEIOPS. The conference will be held at Savoy Place, Charing Cross, London WC2R 0BL. www.savoyplace.co.uk