Suchergebnisse

This paper analyses regulatory solutions that have been adopted to address constitutional constraints imposed on the functioning of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), in which the ECB's exclusive supervisory competence is carried out. It argues that the operational framework governing the functioning of the SSM has assimilated, to a certain extent, three specific regulatory solutions underpinning the workings of the ESCB/Eurosystem: 1) the (legislative) allocation of certain tasks and responsibilities between ECB internal administrative bodies and structures; 2) the possibility of internal delegation of decision-making powers; and 3) the decentralised exercise of certain of the Union's tasks. Such a design of the SSM reflects institutional continuity concerning a political choice on how to achieve stage one of a genuine Economic and Monetary Union. It concludes that the Union operates at its best when centralised decision-making on substantial policy issues is combined with a decentralised operational framework allowing for the meaningful involvement of national administrations in the exercise of Union exclusive competences.

This dissertation offers a deep political science insight into the functioning of the EU new multilevel administrative system governing the micro-prudential supervision of credit institutions operating in the Single Market. It aims to explain the conditions affecting the formal top-bottom compliance expectation within this multilevel system. In doing so, it engages in the institutional analysis of the organisational and operational design of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).

This paper analyses regulatory solutions that have been adopted to address constitutional constraints imposed on the functioning of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), in which the ECB's exclusive supervisory competence is carried out. It argues that the operational framework governing the functioning of the SSM has assimilated, to a certain extent, three specific regulatory solutions underpinning the workings of the ESCB/Eurosystem: 1) the (legislative) allocation of certain tasks and responsibilities between ECB internal administrative bodies and structures; 2) the possibility of internal delegation of decision-making powers; and 3) the decentralised exercise of certain of the Union's tasks. Such a design of the SSM reflects institutional continuity concerning a political choice on how to achieve stage one of a genuine Economic and Monetary Union. It concludes that the Union operates at its best when centralised decision-making on substantial policy issues is combined with a decentralised operational framework allowing for the meaningful involvement of national administrations in the exercise of Union exclusive competences.

The nature and scope of the European Central Banks's ('ECB') oversight mandate over the supervision of smaller and medium-sized banks by national supervisors has been one of the most debated aspects of the newly created European Banking Union. In particular, the issue whether the ECB should influence already established national supervisory practises and standards was not immediately straightforward. This paper applies the Principal-Agent ('PA') approach to explore the extent of the ECB supranational agency governing the supervisory oversight policies in the Single Supervisory Mechanism ('SSM'). Notably, one of the important features of the SSM institutional design is the contractual incompleteness of supranational delegation. The ECB has been granted discretion to fill in the agency contract concluded with the Member States. A brief analysis of the practical operationalization of the ECB oversight role suggests that the ECB could exploit this contract condition to pursue own policy goals (agency hold-up problem) and situate itself in "bureaucratic drift" vis-à-vis the Member-State principals. However, under slightly relaxed Principal-Agent assumptions which allow policy learning to take place between the principal and agent, it is also possible that the ECB managed to influence the Member States' stance, and, in doing so, exercised effective bureaucratic entrepreneurship.

The nature and scope of the European Central Banks's ('ECB') oversight mandate over the supervision of smaller and medium banks by national supervisors has been one of the most debated aspects of the newly created European Banking Union. In particular, the issue whether the ECB should influence already established national supervisory practises and standards was not immediately straightforward. This paper applies the Principal-Agent ('PA') approach to explore the extent of the ECB supranational agency governing the supervisory oversight policies in the Single Supervisory Mechanism ('SSM'). Notably, one of the important features of the SSM institutional design is the contractual incompleteness of supranational delegation. The ECB has been granted discretion to fill-in the agency contract concluded with the Member States. A brief analysis of the practical operationalization of the ECB oversight role suggests that the ECB could exploit this contract condition to pursue own policy goals (agency hold-up problem) and situate itself in "bureaucratic drift" vis-à-vis the Member-State principals. However, under slightly relaxed Principal-Agent assumptions which assume proactive role of the agent in reducing information asymmetries vis-à-vis its principal, it is also possible that the ECB managed to influence the Member States' stance, and, in doing so, exercised effective bureaucratic entrepreneurship.

This paper examines the institutional design of the Single Supervisory Mechanism and views the relation between the European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Competent Authorities (NCAs) as a principal-agent relation in which the NCAs are carrying out supervision of the less significant banks on behalf of the ECB. From a principal-agent perspective, the institutional design is understood as the art of choosing proper ex ante and ex post mechanisms of control by the ECB over the activities of the NCAs. Therefore, the focus of the paper directed on (1) identifying the proper control mechanisms consisting of the 'ex-ante' and the 'ex-post' controls, as suggested by the principal-agent model, which the ECB's may use to ensure that its policy preferences are enforced by the NCAs within the SSM and (2) assess whether they may possibly cover all of the NCAs 'zone of discretion' relating to supervision of less significant banks on the ECB's behalf. The working hypothesis is that the NCAs zone of discretion may not be fully controlled by the ECB. It is argued that existence of such 'black holes' constitute challenges for the ECB to ensure its policy preferences are enforced in a full extent by the NCAs.

The recent global financial crisis has shaken the celebrated paradigm of an independent central bank with monetary policy mandate focused on the paramount objective of price stability. During the crisis, central banks, particularly the Fed, the ECB and the BoE; in order to restore financial stability adopted many "non-standard measures" which successfully prevented greater financial turmoil. By providing emergency funding to unstable financial sectors, central banks' balance sheets have expanded considerably which may pose certain risks to central banks' independence in the conduct of its traditional monetary policy objectives. Furthermore, seeing the successes of central banks in fighting the crisis, the US, the British and the EU lawmakers decided to enhance their financial stability mandate, which in turn raised many questions as to its "clear and limited" scope and its compatibility with democratic principles. This thesis will explore the post-crisis challenges for central banks, raised by expansion of their balance sheets and broadened scope of their policy objectives, with regard to their independence and mandate.

Rule of law, whose core is "the access to an independent judiciary and judicial review", fulfills in EU external policy two functions. Firstly, according to the art. 21 of TEU, all EU external actions have to be subdued to the rule of law. Secondly, promoting and consolidating the rule of law is one the objectives of EU external action. In most constitutional systems, a wide margin of appreciation is left as regards to foreign policy and judicial review is considerably limited. In case of EU, the Court's jurisdiction over EU external policy is differentiated and reflects the old pillar structure. The question which arises here is whether it can be accommodated with the disposition of the art. 2 of TEU, which states that the European Union which is a single legal entity "is founded on the value of rule of law", and with the principle of EU external policy coherence.

Does the institutional design of the European Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) and its first assessment of systemically important bank stability bolster the credibility of supranational banking supervision in Europe? One crucial measure of credibility with regard to the SSM and NCA supervision of less significant banks — the large majority of euro area headquartered bank not subject to direct ECB supervision — is the assurance of consistent supervision in the euro area. This involves some degree of convergence of NCA supervision in order to prevent national supervisory forebearance of struggling banks. This contribution thus examines whether or not the design of the SSM provides the foundation to build convergence in euro area supervision of less significant banks, despite very different national supervisory practices and institutional frameworks. The Principal-Agent approach is used to assess the credibility of the SSM design in terms of providing the foundation for consistent supervision. This contribution also examines the credibility of the ECB's direct supervision of significant banks. The management of the ECB's Comprehensive Assessment of signficant banks can be seen as the first step in demonstrating the capacity of the ECB to make difficult decisions with regard to the stability of the euro area's banks.

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