CEBS starts a formal consultation on supervisory disclosure

By the end of next year, any interested party will be able to access relevant information on the implementation and application of harmonised prudential banking rules for all EU Member States in a single location, a common format and a common language.

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) is starting a formal consultation on its guidelines for implementing a common European framework for supervisory disclosure. The consultation is open to all interested parties, including supervised institutions, other market participants and end users of banking services. The consultation period begins today and will last for three months.

The CEBS guidelines stem from the proposed EU legislation (the Capital Requirements Directive, or CRD) for a new capital adequacy framework for credit institutions and investment firms.

The main purposes of the supervisory disclosure framework are to provide a comprehensive overview of regulatory and supervisory rules in the EU relating to the proposed CRD and to enable meaningful comparison of the approaches adopted by national authorities. It will provide qualitative information, such as regulations and information on the ways in which Member States have exercised the options and national discretions contained in the proposed CRD, as well as quantitative information, such as national statistical data about the banking industry.

CEBS believes that this coordinated move towards grater transparency will contribute significantly to ensuring consistent implementation of the new capital adequacy framework throughout the EU, and enables supervisors to carry out their tasks in an open, accountable but nonetheless independent manner.

The supervisory disclosure framework has been designed to be user-friendly, using the internet as a convenient way to present and make the information easily accessible. The CEBS website (www.c-ebs.org) will provide a general overview of the disclosures and will contain links to the websites of the national authorities where more detailed information in the same format will be displayed.

The supervisory disclosure framework will be modified as necessary to reflect the final version of the CRD, comments received during the consultation, and the results of other CEBS work streams.

The guidelines for implementing the supervisory disclosure framework should be finalised by year-end 2005. The framework will then be implemented by year-end 2006 the target date for qualitative information. Statistical information on that institutions use to measure their risks and determine their capital adequacy will be included by mid-2008, recognising that some of the intended content may not yet be available at that time.