IP/07/1495

Brussels, 15 October 2007

Financial services: Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group publishes final report on Lamfalussy process

The Inter-Institutional Monitoring Group (IIMG) ^[1] has published its third and final report on the "Lamfalussy process", a four-level regulatory approach for the adoption and implementation of financial services regulation which allows the EU to respond rapidly and flexibly to developments in financial markets. With the termination of its mandate, the Group provides a general assessment of the Lamfalussy framework, an evaluation of its ability to deliver results and proposes concrete recommendations for improving the overall process. The Group observes that the Lamfalussy process has significantly contributed to the integration of European financial markets. This has however resulted in new challenges for the present institutional arrangements and, in particular, for the Level 3 of the Lamfalussy structure. The Group's final report focuses therefore on the functioning of the Level 3 Committees and identifies the areas where more progress is necessary to keep pace with the development of the markets.

The Group emphasises the need to strengthen the role that the Level 3 Committees play as a platform for the coordination of supervision and regulation, in facilitating the development of supervisory tools and methods, and in strengthening the trust between national supervisors.

It considers it necessary to provide the Level 3 Committees with an appropriate legal basis and a clear EU mandate endorsed by the European Institutions. It invites the Level 3 Committees to review their decision-making rules with the objective of better operational effectiveness and highlights the need to provide the Committees with sufficient financial and other resources.
The full final report is available at:

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finances/committees/index_en.htm#interinstitutional

^[1] The Inter-institutional Monitoring Group has a mandate to assess the progress made on implementing the Lamfalussy process and identify possible emerging bottlenecks in this process, and is composed of six independent experts, of which each institution nominated two: Dr. Karl-Peter SCHACKMANN-FALLIS (Germany), Executive Member of the Board of the German Savings Banks Association; Mr Freddy VAN den SPIEGEL (Belgium), Chief Economist and Director of Public Affairs, Fortis Bank; Mr Johnny ÅKERHOLM (Finland), President and CEO of the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB); Mr Rainer MASERA (Italy), Professor of Banking, Luiss University; Mr Mark HARDING (United Kingdom), Group General Counsel, Barclays Bank; Mr Pierre DE LAUZUN (France), Chief Executive, French Association of Investment Firms (AFEI) and Deputy Director General, French Banking Federation (FBF).