ECB seeks bigger say on banks' capital requirements

[FRANKFURT] The European Central Bank urged European lawmakers on Tuesday (Apr 14) to give it a bigger say on banks’ overall capital requirements, including those set by national authorities, in a bid to identify overlaps and blind spots. The recommendation was one of 17 submitted by the eurozone’s central bank to the European Commission as part of a consultation aimed at helping EU banks compete more effectively with rivals in the US and elsewhere.

The central bank argued its policymakers should take a view on the total level of capital demands facing EU banks, including those set by ECB supervisors and others that are the purview of national authorities.

“It is proposed to make the ECB Governing Council responsible for taking a holistic view of the overall level of capital demand within and across the banking union to fulfil the need for increased coordination,” the ECB said in its recommendation.

The central bank said the assessment should be carried out by ECB policymakers and top supervisors together but left open how their findings should be implemented.

The ECB repeated other recommendations, such as whittling down macroprudential buffers to just two, clarifying the status of convertible bonds and expanding a favourable regulatory regime for small banks. REUTERS