FRANKFURT (MNI) – Global financial market regulatory and
supervisory reforms must avoid a one-size-fits-all approach that could
unnecessarily harm national financial systems, European Central Bank
Governing Council member Axel Weber said Wednesday.
“Specific national legislation typically takes better account of
national particularities, for example in terms of market structure or
modes of refinancing,” Weber said in a speech text for delivery at the
Frankfurt Finance Summit.
A failure to take such particularities into account could place an
“unnecessarily onerous, or even harmful, burden of adjustment on
national financial systems,” Weber warned.
“Whether this would be the case in the EU if the Basel III
framework is implemented through the instrument of a regulation rather
than a directive is currently a hotly debated issue,” Weber noted
While it would be easier for the European Commission to enforce
common standards through a regulation, this approach would leave only
“very limited leeway for member states to accommodate country-level
differences or to deal with any unintended consequences that emerge
after the rules have come into effect,” he said.
“To strike the balance between uniformity and subsidiarity is
certainly a formidable challenge but I am confident that we will
eventually succeed and create a more stable and more resilient financial
system,” the departing head of the Bundesbank said.
Turning to the role of central banks in the new regulatory and
supervisory environment, Weber said they “should continue to play a
prominent role in safeguarding financial stability at the
microprudential as well as at the macroprudential level.”
Nevertheless , it is “imperative” that their work in this field
“does not compromise their independence and their primary objective,
which is to maintain price stability,” Weber asserted.
— Frankfurt bureau: +49 69 720 142; email: frankfurt@marketnews.com —
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