New organization of the supervision of credit institutions and of financial markets and services

Press release: print version (pdf - 18k)

The Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) and the Chairman of the Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission (CBFA) wish to announce their joint intention to put in place the future institutional structure for the supervision of financial institutions and financial markets in Belgium, as presented by the Prime Minister in his general policy statement.

Certainly no one supervisory model has proven to be superior, particularly during the recent financial crisis. Nevertheless, the latest developments in several countries and in particular in the euro zone have shown a growing convergence on the rapprochement of the micro- and the macro-components of prudential supervision.

The National Bank and the CBFA will see to it that the Government's decisions are implemented as soon as possible. Thus the first stage will be the creation of the Systemic Risk Committee, consisting of the management committees of the two institutions. This Committee will oversee a gradual rapprochement between the teams of the CBFA and of the NBB involved in prudential supervision, and will also facilitate the development of new tools for prudential supervision.

The Systemic Risk Committee will also prefigure the final stage of the reform, at the end of which the National Bank will be responsible for all prudential supervision in Belgium.

The new CBFA, separate from the NBB, will, for its part, take charge of all aspects of the surveillance of the financial markets and the supervision of listed companies, financial products, services and intermediaries and the relevant rules of conduct, and will be given increased powers as regards consumer protection and the supervision of information.

This development follows on from the Law of 2 August 2002, which notably made possible the signing of 17 agreements on operational cooperation between the two institutions.

Finally, the NBB and the CBFA wish to emphasize that this development in no way
affects the day to day conduct of supervision, the continuity and quality of which must be guaranteed, and that the jobs and status of their employees, whose competence has been universally recognized, will be maintained.