Structure
1. The ESRB shall have a General Board, a Steering Committee, a Secretariat, an Advisory Scientific Committee and an Advisory Technical Committee.
2. The General Board shall take the decisions necessary to ensure the performance of the tasks entrusted to the ESRB, pursuant to Article 3(2).
3. The Steering Committee shall assist in the decision-making process of the ESRB by preparing the meetings of the General Board, reviewing the documents to be discussed and monitoring the progress of the ESRB’s ongoing work.
4. The Secretariat shall be responsible for the day-to-day business of the ESRB. It shall provide high-quality analytical, statistical, administrative and logistical support to the ESRB under the direction of the Chair and the Steering Committee in accordance with Council Regulation (EU) No 1096/2010 ( 17 ) . It shall also draw on technical advice from the ESAs, national central banks and national supervisors.
5. The Advisory Scientific Committee and the Advisory Technical Committee referred to in Articles 12 and 13 shall provide advice and assistance on issues relevant to the work of the ESRB.
Chair and Vice-Chairs of the ESRB
1. The ESRB shall be chaired by the President of the ECB for a term of 5 years following the entry into force of this Regulation. For the subsequent terms, the Chair of the ESRB shall be designated in accordance with the modalities determined on the basis of the review provided for in Article 20.
2. The first Vice-Chair shall be elected by and from the members of the General Council of the ECB for a term of 5 years, with regard to the need for a balanced representation of Member States overall and between those whose currency is the euro and those whose currency is not the euro. The first Vice-Chair may be re-elected once.
3. The second Vice-Chair shall be the Chair of the Joint Committee as appointed pursuant to Article 55(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, of Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 and of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.
4. The Chair and the Vice-Chairs shall present to the European Parliament, during a public hearing, how they intend to discharge their duties under this Regulation.
5. The Chair shall preside at the meetings of the General Board and the Steering Committee.
6. The Vice-Chairs, in order of precedence, shall preside at the General Board and/or the Steering Committee when the Chair is unable to participate in a meeting.
7. If the term of office of a member of the General Council of the ECB elected as first Vice-Chair ends before the completion of the five-year term or if for any reason the first Vice-Chair is unable to discharge his duties, a new first Vice-Chair shall be elected in accordance with paragraph 2.
8. The Chair shall represent the ESRB externally.
General Board
1. Members of the General Board with voting rights shall comprise:
(a)
the President and the Vice-President of the ECB;
(b)
the Governors of the national central banks;
(c)
a Member of the Commission;
(d)
the Chairperson of the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority);
(e)
the Chairperson of the European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority);
(f)
the Chairperson of the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority);
(g)
the Chair and the two Vice-Chairs of the Advisory Scientific Committee;
(h)
the Chair of the Advisory Technical Committee.
2. Members of the General Board without voting rights shall comprise:
(a)
one high-level representative per Member State of the competent national supervisory authorities, in accordance with paragraph 3;
(b)
the President of the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC).
3. With regard to the representation of the national supervisory authorities under paragraph 2(a), the respective high-level representatives shall rotate depending on the item discussed, unless the national supervisory authorities of a particular Member State have agreed on a common representative.
4. The General Board shall establish rules of procedure for the ESRB.
Impartiality
1. When participating in the activities of the General Board and of the Steering Committee or when conducting any other activity relating to the ESRB, the members of the ESRB shall perform their duties impartially and solely in the interest of the Union as a whole. They shall not seek nor take instructions from the Member States, the Union institutions or any other public or private body.
2. No member of the General Board (whether voting or non-voting) shall have a function in the financial industry.
3. Neither the Member States, the Union institutions nor any other public or private body shall seek to influence the members of the ESRB in the performance of the tasks set out in Article 3(2).
Professional secrecy
1. Members of the General Board and any other persons who work or who have worked for or in connection with the ESRB (including the relevant staff of central banks, the Advisory Scientific Committee, the Advisory Technical Committee, the ESAs and the Member States’ competent national supervisory authorities) shall not disclose information that is subject to professional secrecy, even after their duties have ceased.
2. Information received by members of the ESRB shall be used only in the course of their duties and in performing the tasks set out in Article 3(2).
3. Without prejudice to Article 16 and the application of criminal law, no confidential information received by the persons referred to in paragraph 1 whilst performing their duties shall be divulged to any person or authority whatsoever, except in summary or aggregate form, such that individual financial institutions cannot be identified.
4. The ESRB shall, together with the ESAs, agree on and establish specific confidentiality procedures in order to safeguard information regarding individual financial institutions and information from which individual financial institutions can be identified.
Meetings of the General Board
1. Ordinary plenary meetings of the General Board shall be convened by the Chair of the ESRB and shall take place at least four times a year. Extraordinary meetings may be convened at the initiative of the Chair of the ESRB or at the request of at least one third of the members of the General Board with voting rights.
2. Each member shall be present in person at the meetings of the General Board and shall not be represented.
3. By way of derogation from paragraph 2, a member who is prevented from attending the meetings for a period of at least 3 months may appoint an alternate. That member may also be replaced by a person who has been formally appointed under the rules governing the institution concerned for the substitution of representatives on a temporary basis.
4. Where appropriate, high-level representatives from international financial organisations carrying out activities directly related to the tasks of the ESRB set out in Article 3(2) may be invited to attend the meetings of the General Board.
5. Participation in the work of the ESRB may be open to high-level representatives of the relevant authorities from third countries, in particular from EEA countries, strictly limited to issues of particular relevance to those countries. Arrangements may be made by the ESRB specifying, in particular, the nature, scope and procedural aspects of the involvement of those third countries in the work of the ESRB. Such arrangements may provide for representation, on an ad-hoc basis, as an observer, on the General Board and should concern only items of relevance to those countries, excluding any case where the situation of individual financial institutions or Member States may be discussed.
6. The proceedings of the meetings shall be confidential.
Voting modalities of the General Board
1. Each member of the General Board with a voting right shall have one vote.
2. Without prejudice to the voting procedures set out in Article 18(1), the General Board shall act by a simple majority of members present with voting rights. In the event of a tie, the Chair of the ESRB shall have the casting vote.
3. By derogation from paragraph 2, a majority of two-thirds of the votes cast shall be required to adopt a recommendation or to make a warning or recommendation public.
4. A quorum of two-thirds of the members with voting rights shall be required for any vote to be taken by the General Board. If the quorum is not met, the Chair of the ESRB may convene an extraordinary meeting at which decisions may be taken with a quorum of one-third. The rules of procedure referred to in Article 6(4) shall provide for adequate notice for convening an extraordinary meeting.
Steering Committee
1. The Steering Committee shall be composed of:
(a)
the Chair and first Vice-Chair of the ESRB;
(b)
the Vice-President of the ECB;
(c)
four other members of the General Board who are also members of the General Council of the ECB, with regard to the need for a balanced representation of Member States overall and between those whose currency is the euro and those whose currency is not the euro. They shall be elected by and from among the members of the General Board who are also members of the General Council of the ECB, for a period of 3 years;
(d)
a Member of the Commission;
(e)
the Chairperson of the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority);
(f)
the Chairperson of the European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority);
(g)
the Chairperson of the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority);
(h)
the President of the EFC;
(i)
the Chair of the Advisory Scientific Committee; and
(j)
the Chair of the Advisory Technical Committee.
Any vacancy for an elected member of the Steering Committee shall be filled by the election of a new member by the General Board.
2. Meetings of the Steering Committee shall be convened by the Chair of the ESRB at least quarterly, before each meeting of the General Board. The Chair of the ESRB may also convene ad-hoc meetings.
Advisory Scientific Committee
1. The Advisory Scientific Committee shall be composed of the Chair of the Advisory Technical Committee and 15 experts representing a wide range of skills and experiences proposed by the Steering Committee and approved by the General Board for a four-year, renewable mandate. The nominees shall not be members of the ESAs and shall be chosen on the basis of their general competence and their diverse experience in academic fields or other sectors, in particular in small and medium-sized enterprises or trade-unions, or as providers or consumers of financial services.
2. The Chair and the two Vice-Chairs of the Advisory Scientific Committee shall be appointed by the General Board following a proposal from the Chair of the ESRB and they shall each have a high level of relevant expertise and knowledge, for example by virtue of their academic background in the sectors of banking, securities markets, or insurance and occupational pensions. The chairmanship of the Advisory Scientific Committee should rotate between those three persons.
3. The Advisory Scientific Committee shall provide advice and assistance to the ESRB in accordance with Article 4(5), at the request of the Chair of the ESRB.
4. The ESRB Secretariat shall support the work of the Advisory Scientific Committee and the head of the Secretariat shall participate in its meetings.
5. Where appropriate, the Advisory Scientific Committee shall organise consultations at an early stage with stakeholders such as market participants, consumer bodies and academic experts, in an open and transparent manner, while taking into account the requirement of confidentiality.
6. The Advisory Scientific Committee shall be provided with all necessary means in order to successfully complete its tasks.
Advisory Technical Committee
1. The Advisory Technical Committee shall be composed of:
(a)
a representative of each national central bank and a representative of the ECB;
(b)
one representative per Member State of the competent national supervisory authorities, in accordance with the second subparagraph;
(c)
a representative of the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority);
(d)
a representative of the European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority);
(e)
a representative of the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority);
(f)
two representatives of the Commission;
(g)
a representative of the EFC; and
(h)
a representative of the Advisory Scientific Committee.
The supervisory authorities of each Member State shall choose one representative in the Advisory Technical Committee. With regard to the representation of national supervisory authorities under point (b) of the first subparagraph, the respective representatives shall rotate depending on the item discussed, unless the national supervisory authorities of a particular Member State have agreed on a common representative.
2. The Chair of the Advisory Technical Committee shall be appointed by the General Board following a proposal from the Chair of the ESRB.
3. The Advisory Technical Committee shall provide advice and assistance to the ESRB in accordance with Article 4(5) at the request of the Chair of the ESRB.
4. The ESRB Secretariat shall support the work of the Advisory Technical Committee and the head of the Secretariat shall participate in its meetings.
5. The Advisory Technical Committee shall be provided with all necessary means in order to successfully complete its tasks.
Other sources of advice
In performing the tasks set out in Article 3(2), the ESRB shall, where appropriate, seek the views of relevant private sector stakeholders.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
