The FSA has restated the UKs support for the creation of a single market in financial services in Europe, and has called for further development of the existing arrangements for regulatory cooperation among national regulators. The recommendation was contained in the latest edition of what the FSA described as its ‘new look’ International Regulatory Outlook (IRO). (See: FSA – International Regulatory Outlook – April 2008). The IRO will be published two to three times each year, and will inform readers about developments in the international policy arena and the FSA’s attitudes to these.
The FSA recognised that ensuring that EU wide financial services measures are implemented in a broadly consistent way throughout the EU is a major and important challenge. Financial services regulation in the EU is currently organised in a series of regulatory committees known as the “Lamfalussy committees”. These arrangements are quite wide-ranging and complex, but the regulatory core consists of three sectoral ‘Level 3 committees’, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS), the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (CEIOPS) and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR). These committees are responsible for providing guidance which promotes the convergence of regulatory outcomes between member states, as well as providing advice to the European Commission on new financial services legislation. Efforts to converge regulatory practices is already an area that CEIOPS has been working on and the committee has recently published a protocol on the collaboration of the insurance supervisory authorities of the member states in the EU. (See: General Protocol on Collaboration)
There are many views on the ways in which these committees should operate and on their effectiveness and success. In this regard, the FSA has confirmed that a ‘single EU regulator’ is not on the formal agenda, but is simply an idea that is the subject of much debate and speculation. The FSA stated its support for the existing EU regulatory structure. It recognises the need for further development of the existing arrangements for regulatory cooperation and endorses the idea of cooperation among regulators and the creation of supervisor colleges and other multilateral arrangements, which will allow supervisors to get a better perspective on group wide issues, to share information, coordinate their plans, undertake joint work and provide a good basis for sharing supervisory tasks.
