On 27 March 2023, Dr Despina Chatzimanoli, Senior Legal Expert and Team Leader of Regulatory Policy Advice Team 2 in the Legal and Compliance Unit of the European Banking Authority (EBA), presented the work of the EBA.
She explained its position in the overall EU institutional architecture for financial services. Based on that she went on to explain the main functions of this independent regulatory body with the wider objective of ensuring the stability, integrity, and efficiency of the European banking system.
She started by explaining the EBA’s contribution to the so-called EU single rulebook (mainly via drafting technical standards and issuing guidelines and recommendations), which ultimately aims at ensuring a consistent and effective regulatory framework across the European Union. She then provided an overview of the EBA’s current powers and tasks in terms of oversight (such as conducting stress tests or promoting supervisory convergence in multiple ways including via leading the work of supervisory colleges). And then briefly set out the EBA’s tasks in resolving disputes, following up on potential breach of Union law cases and acting in emergency situations.
In the second part of her presentation, Dr Chatzimanoli explored the different waves of regulatory developments and how these have impacted the EBA’s role, organisation and work. Most importantly these referred first to the creation of the Banking Union, later to the advent of Brexit and, more recently, to the assignment of new competences to the EBA, with the highlight being the new powers of direct supervision and oversight under the recent legislative acts being adopted in the context of the EU’s Digital Finance strategy. She concluded by asserting that all those developments point to the continuous relevance of the EBA in promoting a stable, efficient, and well-regulated banking system within the European Union, and in ensuring that the interests of consumers, investors, and other stakeholders are protected.