Resolution of the European Parliament on third countries equivalence in financial services

On September 11, 2018, the European Parliament (EP) has adopted a Resolution on relationships between the EU and third countries concerning financial services regulation and supervision.

This Resolution results of different legislative works or reports on the functioning of the financial supervision including the revision of the roles of the ESAs on one side and on an EP resolution on the framework of the future EU-UK relationship.

In substance, the Parliament asks the Commission to consider exceptions where international cooperation may be advance by bilateral cooperation agreements between the EU and third countries may be accepted instead of unilateral decision.

The Parliament would like to be involved in the equivalence decision and stresses that the ESAs to be equipped with the relevant power to advise the Commission on granted equivalence including on a continuous basis.

The Parliament is requesting to revise the process to grant equivalence and make it more transparent including publicity of the examination of the third countries done by the ESAs and by establishing a yearly reporting on the status of such equivalences to the Parliament.

Finally, in the context of Brexit, the Parliament insists on the role of the ESAs as well on the role of the NCAs in the authorisation process for financial institutions that wish to delegate part of their portfolio management or risk management to service providers in third countries where the regulatory regime is comparable to that of the EU, as well as the importance of supervisory convergence.

The Parliament also considers that the ESAs and the NCAs should cooperate closely to share best practices and ensure uniform implementation of regulatory cooperation and activities with third countries.

One can conclude that the equivalence in parliament’s mind must become a political tool to manage the relationship with third-countries rather than a pure technical procedure.

EC -Recognition of non-EU financial frameworks