EN 
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 5 May 2009 
on the liberalisation of correspondent banking servi ces for payments in the national currency and 
on related statistical reporting requirements   
(CON/2009/43) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 27 March 2009 the European Central Ba nk (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a 
României (BNR) for an opinion on a draft Regulati on on the liberalisation of correspondent banking 
services for payments in national currency and on st atistical reports to be submitted to Banca Na ţională a 
României on payments made through corresponden t banking arrangements (hereinafter the ‘draft 
regulation’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an  opinion is based on Article 105(4) of the Treaty establishing the 
European Community and the fourth and fifth indent s 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 regulation relates to the co llection, compilation and distribution of 
monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and ba lance of payments statistics and to payment and 
settlement systems. 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 regulation 
1.1 The draft regulation contributes to the setting up of the regulatory framework for BNR to promote 
and monitor the smooth functioning of payment systems. It applies to Romanian credit institutions and branches of foreign credit institutions establis hed in Romania, which it refers to as ‘credit 
institutions’. In particular, the dr aft regulation: (i) removes the r estriction on correspondent banking 
operations performed in Romanian national currenc y which currently apply to participants in 
Romanian payment systems; (ii) creates the lega l framework which enables the credit institutions 
as defined by it to perform payment services – and ot her services related to payments – in national 
currency through correspondent bank ing arrangements for other cred it institutions; and (iii) with 
reference to the abovementioned correspondent banking arrangements and operations, sets the 
statistical indicators to be reported to BNR by  the credit institutions which qualify as payment 
systems participants, as well as the related reporting requirements. 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2 1.2 The draft regulation falls under Article 405 of  Government Urgency Ordinance No 99/2006 on 
credit institutions and capital adequacy2, which requires BNR to regulate payment and securities 
settlement systems, and, in particular, ‘the criteri a and rules for supervising the systems, including 
the participants in these systems and their operators’. 
 2. General observations  The ECB welcomes the draft regulation which establish es the regulatory framework for credit institutions 
to perform payment services in national currency through correspondent banking arrangements for other 
credit institutions. It will support BNR in promoting and monitoring the smooth functioning of payment 
systems. 
 3. Specific observations When defining specific terms in Article 2 of th e draft regulation, the ECB recommends inserting a 
definition for ‘overnight credit’, wh ich appears to be necessary taking in to consideration the references to 
this specific term in the annexes. 
 This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 5 May 2009. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET 
                                                 
2  Published in the Monitorul Oficial al României , Part One, No 1027, 27.12.2006.