ECB Published Opinion on a Draft Law on Request from NBB

ECB, on April 03, 2017, had received a request from the Governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), on behalf of the Minister of Finance, for an opinion on a draft law on various financial and tax provisions. The draft law amends various provisions contained in the NBB Organic Law, the Law of February 28, 2002 (on organizing the establishment of the balance of payments), and the Banking Law. ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth indents of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC, since the draft law concerns the NBB, the collection of balance of payments statistics, payment and settlement systems as well as rules applicable to financial institutions insofar as they materially influence the stability of financial institutions and markets. The ECB opinion does not address the issue of whether the draft law effectively implements Directive 2014/49/EU (on deposit guarantee schemes) in Belgian law. The focus of this opinion is on the various provisions of the draft law related to the:

Creation of a new category of senior non-preferred debt instruments in the insolvency hierarchy of credit institutions

Introduction of new macro-prudential tools

Creation of a new category of settlement institution

Exclusion of set-off rights with respect to credit claims pledged to the NBB

Introduction of new penalty payments in the context of balance of payments statistics

Independence of the NBB’s decision-making bodies with regard to financial stability matters 

Related Link: ECB Opinion (PDF)

​Keywords: Europe, ECB, Banking, NBB, Macroprudential Policy, Opinon, Belgium