Activities of Paloma LÓPEZ BERMEJO related to 2015/2106(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on Stocktaking and challenges of the EU Financial Services Regulation: Impact and the way forward towards a more efficient and effective EU framework for Financial Regulation and a Capital Markets Union
Amendments (34)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomNotes the opening of the consultation on the Capital Markets Union, and underlines the need to learn lessons from the crises in order to enhance marketfinancial stability and facilitate non-bank financing of the real economy; believes that this initiative, by widening access to funding and unlocking investment, can be an important tool to get Europe back on track for economic growth;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas in recent years an ambitious reform agenda for the EU financial sector has been launched to strengthen financial regulation and supervision, restore financial stability and make the financial system more resilient to shocks; whereas these fell short of addressing the fundamental problems of the financial sector, i.e. too-big-to fail and too-interconnected-to fail;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Highlights the opening of the consultation on the Capital Markets Union, and underlines the need on the one hand to consider the impact of the single market on the worsening economic and social asymmetries between Member States, and on the other hand to learn lessons from the 2007/2008 financial crisis, whose harmful effects on world economies, and in particular on people and workers, are still being felt; in this context, rejects the idea that (i) forms of financing associated with complex financial products should be promoted; (ii) financing the real economy, in particular industry, should be subject to the dictates of financial speculators (also known as investors), and (iii) there should be no separation of retail and investment banking;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the financial crisis of 2007/2008 has largely been the result of past policy failures, namely the deregulation of the financial sector, which has fuelled speculative bubbles and has been the main cause for the too-big-to fail and too-interconnected-to fail problems;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas these policy failures have led to the deepest political and socio- economic crisis in the recent history of the European Union;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Stresses the need to take into account the wider global context; calls for a set of measures to improve the investment climate, attracting capital flows into the EU and restoring the international competitiveness of the Unregulate international financial flows in order to reduce dependence on short-term and foreign currency loans; points out that industrial development is particularly vulnerable to hot capital flows and financial speculation; regrets, in this respect, that official public loans have often been made conditional on financial liberalisation;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas profoundsome changes have occurred in all financial sectors, including banking, insurance, securities markets, investment funds and financial market infrastructure, which unfortunately leave the problems of too-big-to fail and too-interconnected-to fail untouched;
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the transposition and implementation of the financial regulatory reform is still ongoing and not yet completed, with many delegated and implementing acts in particular still to be finalised; whereas especially the strict separation of investment from retail banking is still outstanding;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the current investment gap is largely the result of deflationary austerity policies and subdued demand rather than an over-regulated financial sector; whereas the crisis has shown that relationship with retail banks is more robust and more focused on lending to the real economy than large universal and investment banks; whereas in the US after the financial crisis, bank lending to corporates has developed stronger than capital markets based financing;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)
Recital C b (new)
Cb. whereas according to the European Banking Federation, credit supplied by banks appears to have broadly matched credit demand1 a ; whereas according to the ESBG, there is no fundamental supply-side shortage of lending in general2 a ; whereas specific shortages of credit to MSMEs derive largely from economic instability and growing disinvolvement of financial activity from the productive economy; whereas these problems will not be alleviated by the plans for a CMU; __________________ 1a cf. http://www.ebf- fbe.eu/uploads/FF2012.pdf 2a cf. http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consu ltations/2013/long-term- financing/docs/contributions/registered- organisations/european-savings-banks- group_en.pdf
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. WelcomesStresses that the envisaged diversification of funding channels, which should be complementary to the existing ones and promote instruments which have proved their usefulness; underlines the need to reduce administrative burd may increase significantly the risks of financial fragility and instability; underlines that the development of new financial instruments and foster the application of the principles of proportionality, coherence and practicability in EU legislation, in the interests of efficient, liquid and cost- effective capital marketsmust be effectively linked to the needs of the real economy and calls on the Commission to apply the precautionary principle in matters of financial regulation;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. WelcomesTakes note of the Commission’s Investment Package, including the Capital Markets Union (CMU); stresses that an efficient and effective financial services frameworkregulation ensuring financial stability is a prerequisite in order to increase (long- term) investment and to foster growth in a competitivthe European economy; underlines the linkage between economic and financial stability;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Welcomes the launch of consultationsExpresses its concern on the review of the Prospectus Directive and the efforts being made to remove regulatory barriers to access to securitisation; underlines, in particular, the need to open up financial markets to SMEs; supports broadening the funding options available for SMEs; callss it may lead to lower regulatory standards for securitisation; stresses that efforts be made to ensure that SMEs can access finance without increasing their exposure to financial markets; calls, in this respect, for improved access to long-term financing and forthrough the development of a pan- European private placement market promoting venture capital, as well as altpublic, coopernative instruments such as peer-to- peer lending and crowdfundand industrial banking;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Considers that the Commission’s ambition to build a Capital Markets Union should be matched by an equivalent focus on raising the bar for retail investor protection to restore their trust; recommends that the Commission should make concrete proposals on how to (a) improve and harmonise retail investor protection rules for all saving and investment products, including pension products and individual shares and bonds;(b)impose effective supervision and enforcement by national and EU supervisory authorities in retail financial markets; (c) promote the development and distribution of simple and standardised investment products; (d) tackle conflicts of interest when giving advice by banning inducements;
Amendment 58 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to take into account the specificities of individual markets and propose changes only in those areas that require intervention in order to eliminate the existing barriersnhance financial stability; believes that the bottom-up approach and sharing national best practices should be at the core of the Capital Markets Union initiative;
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Is concerned about the increased complexity, reflected in the of financial products and markets, requiring a greater amount, detail and number of layers of regulation and supervision with requirements at international, European and national level;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Underlines the importance of comprehensive and cross-sectional impact assessments, andwith adequate emphasis on the risks for industry of external funding in case of enhanced financial fragility, volatility or concentration as result of the Capital Markets Union; calls on the Commission to undertake detailed consultations on matters of concern to allsocial partners and other stakeholders, and to ensure the coherence of the delegating and implementing acts.
Amendment 84 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Believes that an effective and efficient EU financial services regulation should be coherent, and consistent (also on a cross- sectoral basis), proportionate, and free of superfluous complexity; believes that it should enable intermediaries to fulfil their role in funding the real economy and serve savers and investors; considers that it should contribute to the single market and focus on goals better achievable at European level;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Believes that consumer protection does not necessarily entail large volumes of information; is concerned that the multiplicity of customer information might not ultimately serve real customer needs; points to the necessity of a Europenformation must always be relevant, comparable, user-friendly, reliable and timely; information alone is not sufficient to protect consumers and enhance their decision-making process; it must go hand in hand with developing unbiased comparison tools, independent and affordable financial advice and initiative for more and better financial educationtermediation, and strong supervisory authorities in charge of consumer protection, equipped with the powers to test new products before they are sold to consumers;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Is concerned about the lack of available and attractive risk-appropriate (long-term) investmentpush to shift retail savings to capital markets for alleged higher returns aund savings products for consumers; reiterates the need for diversity in investor and consumer choiceser the disputable assumptions that consumers can have higher returns without increasing the risk they are taking;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Welcomes the diversity of business models; cCalls for a differentiation in regulation and supervision regarding the nature, size, riskiness and complexity of entities; believes however that the key priority of policy makers and supervisors must be to end the too-big-to fail and too- interconnected-to fail problems;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. RecognisesTakes note of the efforts made to establish a more transparent securitisation market; emphasises that stringent requirements for underlying high-quality assets and calibrations according to the actual risk profile are necessary, beartaking in mindto account the riskiness of securitisation as shown during the crisis; emphasises that simple, standardised and transparent securitisation rules out practices like tranching or synthetic securitisation; calls on the Commission to conduct a thorough assessment of the risks and benefits of securitisation for SMEs, investors and financial stability and the marketability of securitisation instruments as a matter of priority, and to report to Parliament;
Amendment 253 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Is highly concerned about the revival of synthetic securitization as expressed in the forthcoming STS Regulation; warns that in particular synthetic securitization worsened the impact of the financial crisis; calls on the Commission to definitively close the door to synthetic securitization in the simple and transparent securitization (STS) framework;
Amendment 274 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Stresses that efforts for a cultural change in the financial sector have to be pursued further; is therefore convinced that strict regulation and supervision of the industry remains a key priority for policy makers; acknowledges the benefits of relationship banking for consumers and SMEs;
Amendment 281 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Underlines the importance of the international framework with respect to its scope, methodologies and implications on the EU framework; calls on the Commission and ESAs to coordinate more closely with international bodies promoting EU interestlong-term global stability and sustainability goals;
Amendment 312 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 26
Paragraph 26
26. Believes that better financial regulation starts with Member States applying the current acquis; considers that gold-plating does not facilitate the functioning of the internal market;
Amendment 324 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. Calls onUrges the Commission to ensure balanced participation in consultations by reflecting the diversity of stakeholders and providing better conditions for small stakeholders to participate, including in the way consultations are organised and questions asked; further urges the Commission to make the lobbying outside of the consultations more transparent and make use of the lobby register mandatory;
Amendment 335 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. WelcomNotes the objectives of the better regulation agenda; underlinequestions the role of REFIT in achieving an efficient and effective financial services regulation; reminds that the focus of EU decision- making must be on improving regulation, not deregulating;
Amendment 361 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Commission to make any amendment made to the draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and implementing technical standards (ITS) submitted by the ESAs transparent to the co-legislators and stakeholders;
Amendment 390 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42
Paragraph 42
42. Stresses that the impact of individual legislative measures differs from their cumulative impact; cCalls on the Commission services, in corporation with the ESAs, SSM and ESRB, to conduct a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative assessment every five years of the cumulative impact of the EU financial services regulation at EU and Member State level;
Amendment 401 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 – introductory part
Paragraph 43 – introductory part
43. Calls on the Commission services to complete the first assessment by the end of 2016in five years’ time from now and to report on the overall impact and, in separate chapters, on the following:
Amendment 422 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 – indent 9
Paragraph 43 – indent 9
– the interdependencies with international standards and the effects on the global competitiveness of European businessesfinancial stability;
Amendment 429 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 – indent 9 a (new)
Paragraph 43 – indent 9 a (new)
– the systemic consequences of past financial services legislation especially with regard to ending the too-big-to fail and too-interconnected-to fail problems;