Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-12-12-Speech-3-356"
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"en.20071212.33.3-356"2
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"Madam President, I would first like to warmly thank the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and, in particular, the rapporteur, Mr Christian Ehler, for supporting the policy set out in our communication.
I fully endorse your view that legislative proposals are not appropriate at this stage. Some issues can be improved through set regulation without major cost impacts and by working together with the European Forum of Deposit Insurers (EFDI). The recent financial turmoil provides evidence that maintaining deposits or confidence is crucial during a financial crisis. As to deposit guarantee schemes, two elements seem to be key – an appropriate coverage level and a short payout delay. If depositors know that their deposit will be covered and if they feel confident that the insured deposits will be reimbursed rapidly, there is no need for them to join any queue outside a bank.
The existing directive has proven to be flexible and allows Member States to increase coverage according to their own economic situation. Member States may take immediate action if their coverage level proves to be inappropriate. The timely payout of insurer deposits can indeed be improved. According to the directive, reimbursements should normally not exceed three months, but this reflects the technology available back in 1994. This is why we have asked the EFDI to identify obstacles to a rapid payout.
Depositors must also be made aware of the protection available to them. The existing information obligations in the directive are applied differently across Europe. Therefore, we have asked the EFDI to identify best practices to improve the dissemination of such information to depositors. With regard to cross-border crisis, I share Parliament’s view on the need to have clarity about burden-sharing and the interactions between all involved parties before such a crisis occurs. The ECOFIN conclusions of 9 October are clear on this point. I have noted the suggestion that the EFDI participate in general burden-sharing discussions. Let me underline that only very few schemes have powers which go beyond the mere reimbursement of depositors. Their funds will also only cover a fraction of the amounts involved in a larger cross-border crisis. Therefore, I am unable to support the suggestion to include the EFDI in general burden-sharing discussions.
The report also stresses the importance of eliminating possible market distortions. As requested, we will examine this matter. However, currently we do not think that the high cost of fully harmonising the present regulatory framework, estimated at between EUR 2.5 billion and EUR 4.5 billion, would be justified. Some level-playing-field issues are already being dealt with. For instance, we need to facilitate topping up, where a branch should be able to offer a level of protection in a host country that is higher than in its home country. However, sometimes, arrangements between schemes in different Member States have not worked in practice, and we support the EFDI’s efforts to achieve a voluntary model agreement. Some Member States already adjust the contributions through their schemes according to the individual risk of banks. We would like to assist interested Member States, as this would contribute towards a level playing field for banks with similar risk profiles.
In conclusion, Europe needs deposit guarantee schemes that ensure depositor confidence in a financial crisis. With the envisaged improvements, I am confident that we will come closer to this objective."@en1
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