On August 8, 2014, the European Commission published its report to the European Parliament and the Council on the operation of the European Supervisory Authorities ("ESAs") and the European System of Financial Supervision ("ESFS") which came into effect in January 2011. The ESFS is made up of the ESAs, – ESMA, the EBA and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority – the EU national regulators and the European Systemic Risk Board. The Commission's report states that the ESAs have performed well overall but also identifies areas for improvement in the short term as well as items for further consideration. The Commission recommends that the ESAs should, in the short term, focus on increasing supervisory convergence across the EU, prioritise investor protection (including by making full use of available powers), enhance internal governance and improve the transparency of the process for preparing draft technical standards or technical advice for the Commission. The Commission undertakes to ensure that: (i) the empowerments for technical standards in future legislative proposals have deadlines that match the entry into force of the primary legislation; and (ii) the timelines and scope of powers for technical standards are appropriate.
The report is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finances/docs/committees/140808-esfs-review_en.pdf.
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