(Finance) – I top management of some European banks they are reporting one growing frustration with ECB supervisory action, as they believe that some requests from regulators are unreasonable and that interference in the management of institutions is excessive. Bloomberg writes it citing several conversations with bankers and, in particular, an episode concerning Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, president of the Societe Generale and former member of the ECB Executive Council
Last month Bini Smaghi wrote to the central bank to protest against the requests from officials to be present at Board meetingsarguing that the practice harms the effectiveness of discussions within the board.
“As far as I know, no other authority in the major advanced economies participates in the meetings of the board and committees in its supervisory activity – he wrote – Not the Federal Reserve, nor the Bank of England, nor the Swiss national bank, nor the FINMA. Some European supervisory authorities have adopted this practice in the past, apparently with little benefit and serious concerns raised by supervised entities “.
In the letter, addressed to Ramon Quintana, director general of the ECB, Bini Smaghi has asked for a meeting with Enria and the presidents of other large institutes credit institutions “for an exchange of views on how to ensure a correct assessment of the governance of banks”.
The Single Supervisory Mechanism “was created to promote the safety and soundness of the banking sector and we are committed to fulfilling this mandate and evaluating banks to very high standards,” an ECB spokesperson told Bloomberg. open to dialogue on the efficiency and effectiveness of our supervisory processes“.