Part II Single Supervision and CRD IV, 5 The Single Rulebook and the SSM: Regulatory Polycentrism vs. Supervisory Centralization »
Guido Ferrarini, Fabio Recine
From: European Banking Union (2nd Edition)
Edited By: Danny Busch, Guido Ferrarini
This chapter analyses the single rulebook from the perspective of the separation of EU banking regulation from prudential supervision focusing on the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). It argues, in particular, that banking regulation and supervision have been increasingly separated one from the other, reaching the apex in the European banking union where EU and national rule-making are entirely decoupled from the SSM. It also argues that EU banking law is characterized by both regulatory polycentrism and supervisory centralization. The chapter then enquires whether the European Central Bank should have more say in rule-making with respect to the eurozone. It concludes that the present EU regime for prudential regulation may be suboptimal for the SSM and hinder its flexibility. Indeed, the European Central Bank supervisory competences might be complemented by the possibility to adopt technical supervisory rules, leaving however key policy issues to be defined at political level by the Council and the EU Parliament.