EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 15 October 2007 
at the request of the German Ministry of Finance 
on a draft law modernising the supervisory st ructure of the Federal Financial Supervisory 
Authority 
(CON/2007/32) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 9 July 2007, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Federal Ministry of 
Finance for an opinion on the draft law modernising  the supervisory structure of the Federal Financial 
Supervisory Authority (hereinafter the ‘draft law’ ). On 27 September 2007, the Federal Ministry of 
Finance sent to the ECB a revised text of the draft law (hereinafter the ‘revised draft law’) with an urgent 
request for an opinion. 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is b ased on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the sixth indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 
29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Ce ntral Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislative provisions1, as the draft law relates to rules applicable  to financial institutions insofar as they 
materially influence the stability of financial ins titutions and markets. In accordance with the first 
sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council 
has adopted this opinion. 
 1. Purpose of the revised draft law The revised draft law has a limited scope compared to the draft law and is mainly addressing the 
governance and management structure of the Fe deral Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin , 
Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht ). In particular, the revised draft law introduces the 
principle of collegiality for the Directorate’s decision-making by replacing the existing presidential structure
2. Henceforth, the Directorate will consist of a president and four executive directors. The 
Directorate’s responsibilities will include decision-making with regard to the BaFin’s rules of procedure, 
adoption of its statute, the budget, as well as decisions where there are differences of opinion between Directorate members and the adoption of administra tive regulations. Moreover, each executive director 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
2  Article 1(2) of the revised draft law amending § 6 of the Law on financial services supervision. 
2 will be responsible for one of the following four  business areas: fundamental issues and internal 
administration, banking supervision, insura nce supervision and securities supervision. 
According to Article 1(2) of the revised draft law, the Directorate will unanimously adopt the 
organisation’s statute laying down the Directorate’ s responsibilities and functions. It will adopt its 
decisions by simple majority of the submitted votes,  even in case of disagreement. The Directorate will 
also establish rules of procedure for the BaFin. Pursua nt to Article 1(3) of the revised draft law, the 
Directorate has to inform the administrative council of its management. 
These changes to the BaFin’s governance and manageme nt structure make it necessary to also amend the 
Law on remuneration of the Federal civil service. The increased responsibility of the BaFin’s Board of Directors will result in the future salary cl assification of executive directors in class B 8
3. 
 2. General observations The ECB welcomes the introduction of collegial deci sion-making for the Directorate’s decision-making 
in the area of prudential supervision
4 and, in view of the limited scope of the revised draft law, has no 
further observations.  
  This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  Done at Frankfurt am Main, 15 October 2007. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
3  Article 2 of the revised draft law amending Appendix I to the Law on remuneration of the Federal civil service. 
4  See, e.g. paragraph 3 of ECB Opinion CON/2005/58  of 23 December 2005 at the request of the Italian Ministry of 
Economy and Finance on an amendment to the draft law on the protection of savings concerning the Banca d’Italia.