This chapter explores the European banking supervision and regulatory architecture. The aim of the introduction of European policy and law in bank regulation is was to build a single market in financial services and to give effect to the freedom of movement of capital. In the midst of the global financial crisis in 2008, the European Commission established a high-level group of experts chaired by Jacques de Larosière to recommend a blueprint for financial supervision in the EU going forward. The de Larosière Report provided a comprehensive analysis of the weaknesses in the financial sector in the EU and recommended stronger regulatory governance in many areas. The chapter then considers the Banking Union, a policy that introduces a new supervisory architecture for euro-area banks.
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Ross Cranston, Emilios Avgouleas, Kristin van Zweiten, Theodor van Sante, and Christoper Hare
This chapter discusses banking supervision in practice. It focuses on two jurisdictions: the UK and the European Banking Union (EBU), and considers in particular the type of powers enjoyed by the UK and EBU regulators, and the way they exercise them in their supervisory approaches. In the process the chapter highlights loopholes in the respective regimes and to some extent evaluates their effectiveness. On 1 April 2013 the Financial Services Act 2012 came into force, removing the Financial Services Authority and delivering a new regulatory structure for the UK, which comprises the Prudential Regulation Authority responsible for microprudential regulation and supervision of banks, building societies, and investment firms; and the Financial Conduct Authority, in addition to a financial stability (macroprudential) body within the Bank of England, the Financial Policy Committee. The EBU brought about the centralization of bank supervision and resolution within the Eurozone. The trigger for the establishment of the EBU was the Eurozone debt crisis.
