EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 2 August 2007  
at the request of Banca Na ţională a României 
on a draft law on non-banking financial institutions  
(CON/2007/23) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 16 July 2007 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a României 
for an opinion on a draft law on non-banking financial institutions  (hereinafter ‘draft law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and on the third and sixth indents of Article 2(1) of Coun cil 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 national central  banks and rules applicable to financial 
institutions insofar as they materially influence th e stability of financial institutions 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 draft law The draft law clarifies and adapts the legal framework for non-banking financial institutions, 
harmonising it with the new legislation on cred it institutions and capital adequacy, and on 
commercial companies in Romania. At the same ti me, it anticipates the expansion of the regulatory 
and supervisory powers of Banca Na ţională a României over non-banking financial institutions in 
the area of money laundering and terrorist financing in the context of the future implementation of 
Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliame nt and of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the 
prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist 
financing
2 in Romania.  
 
2. Extension of regulatory and supervisory powers of Banca Na ţională a României in the area of 
money laundering and terrorist financing 
2.1 The ECB takes note of the changes in the legislative framework for non-banking financial 
institutions and underlines that ‘Member States may not put their NCBs in a position where they 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  OJ L 309, 25.11.2005, p. 15.  
2 have insufficient financial resources to carry out  their ESCB- or Eurosystem-related tasks, as 
applicable’3. Therefore, the ECB expects that when extending Banca Na ţională a României’s tasks, 
care will be taken to ensure that it has sufficien t financial and personnel resources both in terms of 
quantity and quality to carry out all its tasks, and in particular that its capacity to carry out ESCB-
related tasks will not be affected4. It should be kept in mind that such sufficient and skilled 
resources will, at a later stage, be assessed in the framework of the Mutual Evaluation Report 
reviewing Member States’ compliance with Financial Action Task Force Standards.  
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 2 August 2007. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
 
                                                 
3  See e.g. ECB’s Convergence Report 2007, p. 19, available on www.ecb.int.  
4 See paragraph 3.2 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/17 of 18 June 2007 at the request of the Italian Ministry of Economic 
Affairs and Finance on a draft law on the regulation and supe rvision of markets and the f unctioning of the competent 
independent authorities.