91998E0722

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0722/98 by Amedeo Amadeo (NI) and Salvatore Tatarella (NI) to the Commission (18 March 1998)

Subject: Capital adequacy

This question concerns the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Directive amending Council Directive 93/6/EEC on the capital adequacy of investment firms and credit institutions (COM(97) 71 final - 97/0124 COD) ((OJ C 240, 6.8.1997, p. 24. )).Can the Commission amend its proposal on the back-testing of internal models in order to ensure that it is more compatible with the aims of the competent international authorities and prevent the creation of competitive advantages for financial institutions in the EU by imposing prescriptive or excessive requirements?

In particular, financial institutions should not be obliged to carry out daily back-testing on the basis of two different systems and it should be specified on what basis more onerous requirements will be applied.

In line with the Basel Agreement, the competent national authorities should also have a greater margin for manoeuvre than the Commission in imposing on credit institutions which have registered between 5 and 9 overshootings over a period of 250 business days stricter capital requirements by using the plus factor.

Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (5 May 1998)

The Commission is pleased to inform the Honourable Members that it has amended its proposal for a Parliament and Council directive amending Council Directive 93/6/EEC of 15 March 1993 on the capital adequacy of investment firms and credit institutions ((OJ L 141, 11.6.1993. )) in the way that the Honourable Members suggest. The Commission adopted its amended proposal ((COM(98) 90 final. )) on 13 February 1998. The Council adopted a common position on this proposal on 9 March 1998.