EN ECB -PUBLIC  
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 1 March  2022  
on the establishment and operation of the central register of accounts  
(CON/20 22/7) 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 3 January 2022 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Minister for Interior  of the 
Slovak Republic for an opinion on a draft law on the central register of accounts1 (hereinafter the ‘draft 
law’). 
The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the 
Functioning of the European Union and the third  indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC2, as 
the draft law relates to Národná banka Slovens ka (NBS) . 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. P
urpose of the draft law
1.1 The draft law seeks to implement the requirement under Article 32a of Directive 2015/849/EU of the
European Parliament and of the Council  (hereinafter the ‘AMLD4’)3 as introduced by an amendment 
in 20184 by establishing the central register of accounts ( hereinafter the ‘register’) , which will be 
operated and administer ed by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter the ‘Ministry 
of Finance’) .  
1.2 The register will contain the following information: the identification of the financial institution that 
maintains the account or leases out the safe- deposit box, the date on which the account was opened 
or on which the lease on the safe- deposit box began, the account number, the international bank 
account number (IBAN)  (if assigned)  or designation of the safe- deposit box, the identification details 
of the client,  the identification  details of the beneficial owner, details on the client’s authorisation to 
handle the funds in the account, the date of suspension of the account and the date of termination 
of the lease on the safe- deposit box ( hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘account information’).  
1 N ávrh zákona o centrálnom registri účtov a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov.  
2 Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities 
regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42).  
3 Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevent ion of the use  
of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU)  No 
648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European  
Parliament and of the  Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73).  
4 S
ee Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive  (EU) 
2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist  
financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU (OJ L 156, 19.6.2018, p. 43).  
ECB -PUBLIC  
2 1.3 The draft law requires financial institutions ( i.e. banks and branches of foreign banks, payment 
institutions and branches of foreign payment institutions, electronic money institutions and branches 
of foreign electronic money institutions, securities dealers and branches of foreign securities 
dealers ), central depositories and NBS (hereinafter collec tively  referred to as the ‘reporting entities’)  
to provide the account information. The  account  information must  be provided to the register by the 
end of the day following that on which the creation, change or deletion of the relevant data in the 
account information takes place.  
1.4 Under the draft law, NBS is not obliged to provide  the account  information in respect of accounts that 
NBS opens on the basis of specific regulations or  a contractual relationship with international 
institutions . The draft law provides examples of such accounts  in a footnote by referring to provisions 
regarding the accounts that NBS opens for the State Treasury ( Štátna pokladnica)5, the accounts in 
the payment systems operated by NBS6, and the accounts that NBS opens in its capacity as a 
settlement agent7. The explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft law clarifies that these 
exempted accounts are the ones that NBS opens in its capacity as a monetary authority or an 
operator of payment systems (e.g. the account maintained for the State Treasury , the Office of the 
Council for Budgetary Responsibility, the Investment Guarantee Fund and the Deposit Protection 
Fund) , and the accounts maintained for other financial institutions (e.g. accounts maintained in 
connection with TARGET services  that are Payments Module ( PM) accounts maintained for the 
purpose of settling the payments of participants in TARGET2, TARGET2 -Securities Dedicated Cash 
Accounts ( T2S DCA s) for securities trading and TARGET Instant Payment Settlement Dedicated 
Cash Accounts ( TIPS DCA s) for instant payments).  
1.5 The reporting entities are responsible for the correctness and completeness of the account 
information reported to the register. The account information is considered to be correct and up- to-
date data when it is the same as the data that the reporting entities maintain in their information 
systems. The Ministry of Finance will not check or be responsible for the correctness and completeness of the account information reported to the register.  
1.6 The account information in the register will  be made available  through a direct, continuous and 
remote access to the register by the following authorities: (i) a specific unit of the financial p olice 
service for the purpose of carrying out the tasks under the L aw on protection against money 
laundering and terrorist financing
8; (ii) a law enforcement agency or a court , for the purposes  of 
a criminal procedure;  (iii) the financial directorate,  for the purposes of tax administration and c riminal 
investigation;  (iv) the customs and the tax authority , for tax administration and customs supervision 
purposes ; (v) criminal police, financial police and police inspection services , for the purpose of 
exercising their criminal investigation powers ; (vi) the financial police services for the purposes of 
tasks in the area of proving or igin of assets ; (vii) the National Security Authority (Národný 
 
5  By reference to Article 25 of Law No. 566/1992 Coll. on the National Bank of Slovakia (zákon č. 566/1992 Zb. o 
Národnej banke Slovenska) . 
6  By reference to Article 45(3) , point (a), of Law No. 492/2009  Coll. on payment services and on amendments and 
supplements to certain laws (zákon č.  492/2009 Z. z.  o platobných službách a o zmene a doplnení niekt orých zákonov ). 
7  By reference to Article 47(3) of Law No. 492/2009 . 
8  Zákon č. 297/2008 Z. z.  o ochrane pred legalizáciou príjmov z trestnej činnosti a o ochrane pred financovaním 
terorizmu a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
3 bezpečnostný úrad), Slovak Information Service (S lovenská informačná služba), Military Intelligence  
(Vojenské spravodajstvo) and the police force,  for the purposes of security checks ; (viii) the Slovak 
Information Service , for the purposes of the fight against organised crime and terrorism;  (ix) the 
Military Intelligence,  for the purpose of fulfil ling of its statutory tasks;  (x) the criminal office of financial 
administration , for the purposes of criminal investigations and the sharing of information with the 
European Anti -Fraud Office;  and (xi) the Ministry of Finance , in connection with the application of 
international sanctions  (hereinafter the ‘authorised authorities’) . 
1.7 Account information provided to or by the register will be regarded as banking secrets and protected 
data under a specific regulation9. The Ministry of Finance will have to take appropriate organisational, 
personnel -related, control -related and technical measures to ensure adequate security of the data 
stored in the register, including protect ing the data from unauthorised processing, misuse, loss, 
deletion and damage. The same is required from the authorities authorised to access the information 
as well as the reporting entities  when they transmit data to  the central register of accounts. The 
Ministry of Finance is authorised to request from the authorised authorities  and reporting entities  
proof of compliance with these measures.  
1.8 The draft law confers on NBS the task of supervis ing the compliance of financial institutions and any 
central securities depositor y (hereinafter collectively  referred to as the ‘supervised entities’) with their 
obligations  in the provision of  account information to the register. NBS will have access to the account 
information  stored  in the register  for the purpose of car rying out this supervision.  Where a supervised 
entity provides to the register partial, incomplete or false account information, fails to provide to the 
register the account information using the prescribed method or within the prescribed time, or fails to 
provide historical account information, NBS will be able to impose fines of up to EUR 500 00010. 
Fines of between EUR 10 000 and EUR 1 000 000 will be imposed by NBS  where repeated breach es 
occur  within a two-year period.  
 
2. Conferral  of a new task on NBS  
2.1 New task of NBS  
2.1.1  The supervision of the compliance of s upervised entities with their obligation to provide account 
information to the register does not appear to be merely auxiliary to NBS’s existing role as a 
competent authority  designated under the AMLD4 to supervise the compliance by credit and financial 
institutions with anti -money laundering and counter -terrorist financing (AML/CFT) requirements11. 
While Article 32a of the AMLD4 requires the information contained in the centralised database to be 
accessible to the competent authorities  designated under the AMLD4, the register  will also facilitate 
the performance of the investigative tasks of the law enforcement , security, military, tax and customs  
authorities in Slovakia.  
 
9 Article 109 of Law No. 566/2001 Coll.  on securities and investment services ( the Securities Act) and on amendments 
and supplements to certain laws. (Zákon č. 566/2001 Z.z. o cenných papieroch a investičných službách a o zmene a 
doplnení niektorých zákonov (zákon o cenných papieroch))  
10  Article 11(2) of the draft law.  
11  Articles 29 and 31 of Law No. 297/2008.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
4 2.1.2  The ECB underlines that a proposed conferral of new tasks on a national central bank (NCB) in the 
European System of Central Banks (ESCB) must be assessed against the prohibition on monetary 
financing laid down in Article 123(1)  of the Treaty. For the purposes of that prohibition, Article 
1(1)(b)(ii) of Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/9312 defines ‘other type of credit facility’, inter alia, as 
“any financing of the public sector’s obligations vis -à-vis third parties ”. 
2.1.3  Ensuring that Member States implement a sound budgetary policy is one of the key objectives of the 
monetary financing prohibition, which may not  be circumvented13. Therefore, the task of financing 
measures, which are normally the responsibility of the Member States, and which are financed from 
their budgetary sources rather than by the NCBs, must not be entrusted to NCBs. To decide what 
constitutes financing of the public sector’s obligations vis -à-vis third parties, which can be translated 
as the provision of central bank financing outside the scope of central bank tasks, it is necessary to 
carry out, on a case- by-case basis, an assessment of whet her the task to be undertaken by an NCB 
is a central bank task or a government task, i.e. a task within the responsibilities of the Member 
States.  
2.1.4  As part of its discretion in the exercise of its duty, on the basis of Article 271(d) of the Treaty and 
Article 35.6 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central 
Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’), to ensure that NCBs honour the obligations laid down 
by the Treaty, the Governing Council has endorsed criteria for determining what may be seen as 
falling within the scope of a public sector obligation within the meaning of Article 1(1)(b)(ii) of 
Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 or, in other words, what constitutes a government task as follows:  
First, central bank tasks are in particular those tasks that are related to the tasks that have been 
conferred on the ECB and the NCBs by the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB. These tasks are 
mainly defined in Article 127(2), (5) and (6) and Article 128(1) of the Treaty, as well as Art icle 22 and 
Article 25.1 of the Statute of the ESCB.  
Second, as Article 14.4 of the Statute of the ESCB allows NCBs to perform ‘other functions’, new tasks, i.e. tasks that are not related to tasks that have been conferred on the ECB and the NCBs, are 
not precluded per se. However, new tasks that are undertaken by an NCB and which are atypical of 
NCB tasks or which are clearly discharged on behalf of, and in the exclusive interest of the government or of other public sector entities should be considered gov ernment tasks.  
Third, an important criterion for qualifying a new task as atypical of an NCB task or as being clearly 
discharged on behalf of and in the exclusive interest of the government or other public sector entities 
is the impact of the task on the institutional, financial and personal independence of that NCB.  
In particular, the following aspects should be taken into account:  
(a) whether the performance of the new task creates conflicts of interest with existing central bank tasks, which are not adequately addressed, and does not necessarily complement those 
existing central bank tasks. If a conflict of interest arises between existing and new tasks, 
sufficient safeguards to mitigate that conflict should be in place. The complementarity between 
 
12  Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 specifying definitions for the application of the prohibitions 
referred to in Articles 104 and 104b(1) of the Treaty (OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1).  
13  Article 123 of the Treaty also serves the objective of maintaining price stability and reinforces central bank 
independence.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
5 a new  task and existing central bank tasks should not be interpreted broadly, so as to lead to 
the creation of an indefinite chain of ancillary tasks. Such complementarity should be 
examined in relation to the financing of those tasks;  
(b) whether without new financial resources the performance of the new task is disproportionate to the NCB’s financial or organisational capacity, and may have a negative impact on the 
capacity to properly perform the existing central bank tasks;  
(c) whether the performance of the new tas k fits into the institutional set -up of the NCB in the light 
of central bank independence and accountability considerations;  
(d) whether the performance of the new task harbours substantial financial risks;  
(e) whether the performance of the new task exposes the members of the NCB decision- making 
bodies to political risks that are disproportionate and may also have an impact on their personal independence and, in particular, on the guarantee of term of office set out in Article 14.2 of the 
Statute.  
2.1.5  Based on the cri teria set out above, the following paragraphs assess whether NBS ’s new task is in 
line with the prohibition of monetary financing.  
2.2 Tasks related to the tasks conferred on the ECB and the NCBs by the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB  
The task  of supervisi ng the compliance of supervised entities with their obligation to provide account 
information to the register for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of possible 
money laundering or terrorist financing as well as for the fac ilitation  of the  performance of the 
investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia 
is not related to the tasks conferred on the ECB and the NCBs by the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB.  
2.3 Tasks which  are atypical of central bank tasks   
The task of supervisi ng the compliance of supervised entities with their obligation to provide account 
information to the register for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of possible 
money laundering or terrorist financing as well as for the facilitation  of the  performance of the 
investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia 
appears atypical of NCB  tasks
14. 
2.4 Tasks clearly discharged on behalf of and in the exclusive interest of the government  
Notwithstanding NBS’s existing role as a competent authority  designated under the AMLD4, the new 
task under  the draft law appears to be discharged on behalf of and in the interest of the Slovak  
government, as its purpose is to further the Slovak  government’s interest in being able to access 
information efficiently for the prevention, detection or investigation of money laundering or terrorist 
 
14  While the ECB has previously opined that tasks entrusted to an NCB relati ng to the establishment of a central register 
of bank accounts are not central bank tasks nor do they facilitate the enforcement of such tasks, it has not yet opined 
on the task of the supervision of the compliance of supervised entities with an obligation  to provide account information 
to the register. See paragraph 2.1 of Opinion CON/2011/30, paragraph 3.1.3 of Opinion CON/2015/36, paragraph 
3.1.3 of Opinion CON/2015/46 and paragraph 2.2.5.1 of the ECB’s Convergence Report  2018.  All ECB opinions are 
publi shed on EUR -Lex. 
ECB -PUBLIC  
6 financing  as well as for the facilitation of  the performance of the investigative tasks of the law 
enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia.  
2.5 Extent to which performance of the new task creates conflicts of interest with existing central bank 
tasks 
The performance of the task of supervisi ng the compliance of supervised entities with their obligation 
to provide account information to the register  is unlikely to give rise to any conflicts of interest in 
connection with  NBS’s existing central bank tasks.  
2.6 Extent to which performance of the new task is disproportionate to the financial or organisational 
capacity of NBS  
2.6.1  As previously noted by the ECB15, Member States must not put their NCBs in a position where they 
have insufficient resources to carry out both their ESCB -related tasks and their national tasks, from 
an operational and financial perspective. Furthermore, when allocating specific new tasks  to NCBs, 
each NCB concerned should have sufficient financial and human resources at its disposal to ensure 
that the tasks can be carried out without impacting on the NCB’s financial or operational capacity to 
perform its ESCB -related tasks. In order to ensure that NBS ’s capacity to perform its ESCB -related 
tasks is not impaired, NBS  must, therefore, be able to avail itself of the necessary resources to carry 
out its responsibilities under the draft law.  
2.6.2  The draft law does not cover the funding of NBS ’s new task.  However,  the explanatory memorandum 
accompanying the draft law expressly puts the new task in the context of NBS’s  broader  supervision  
tasks under the Law on the supervision of the financial market16 which requires NBS to supervise all 
entities in  the financial market , ensuring compliance with the provisions of laws specifically applicable 
to the supervised entities or to their activities as well as with legally binding Union acts17. In this 
regard, the ECB notes  that ‘the entities to which an authorisation or other permit to operate in the 
financial market has been issued’  are required to pay annual contributions to NBS18. Against this 
backdrop, t he ECB invites the consulting authority to consider the impact of the draft law on NBS’s 
resources and to consider whether current financing arrangements , i.e. annual contributions to NBS , 
would sufficiently cover the costs associated with the  new task under the draft law  as well .  
2.7 Extent to which performance of the new task fits into the institutional set -up of NBS, in the light of 
central bank independence and accountability considerations  
As noted above, the explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft law expressly puts the new 
task in the context of NBS’s broader supervision tasks  under the Law on the supervision of the 
financial market. The explanatory memorandum accompanying  the draft law  also further expresses 
the expectation that supervision under the draft law will be performed as part of already established 
activities of NBS’s  financial market supervision unit. Against this backdrop, the performance of the 
new supervision  task does not appear to conflict with NB S’s institutional set -up. 
 
15  See, for example, paragraph 4.6.1 of Opinion CON/2018/21.  
16  Law 747/2004 on Supervision of the financial market and on amendments and supplements to certain laws (‘Law on 
supervision of the financial market’) ( Zákon 747/2004 o dohľade nad finančným trhom a o zmene a doplnení niektorých 
zákonov).  
17  Article 1(3)(a ), point 2., of the Law on supervision of the financial market.  
18  Article 40(1) of the Law on supervision of the financial market.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
7 2.8 Extent to which the performance of tasks harbours substantial financial risks  
The draft law does not address NBS’s potential liability in the event of legal action, application or 
other legal proceeding for damages in relation to the exercise of (or failure to exercise) its powers 
under the draft law. In the absence of any provision in the draft law excluding NBS’s liability when 
performing the tasks under the draft law,  NBS would ultimately be liable for damages in accordance 
with Slovak state liability rules. Therefore, the new task conferred on NBS under the draft law would 
entail  additional financial risks . However, such risks should not be considered substantial as they  do 
not materially increase the financial risks of the supervisory tasks already assumed by NBS when 
performing supervision under the Law on the supervision of  the financial market.  
2.9 Extent to which the performance of the new task exposes members of the decision- making bodies 
of NBS to disproportionate political risks and impacts on their personal independence 
The performance of the new task conferred under the draft  law does not appear to expose NBS’s 
decision -making bodies to any disproportionate political risk or have an impact on their personal 
independence.  
2.10 Conclusions  on monetary financing considerations  
Notwithstanding NBS’s existing role as a competent authority designated under the AMLD4, the new 
task under the draft law  is essentially discharged on behalf of and in the interest of the Slovak 
government, as its purpose is to further the Slovak government’s interest in ensuring that relevant 
authorities are able to access information efficiently for the prevention, detection or investigation of 
money laundering or terrorist financing as well as for the facilitation of  the performance of the 
investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia.  
Consequently, in order to ensure compliance with the monetary financing prohibition, the NBS needs 
to be fully and adequately remunerated when carrying out its task in relation to the register  under the 
draft law19. The ECB therefore invites the consulting authority to consider the impact of the draft law 
on NBS’s resources and to ensure that  the current  financing framework , which entails  financing 
through annual contributions to NBS  as laid down in  the Law on the supervision of the financial 
market , would sufficiently  cover the costs associated  with the new task under the draft law . 
 
3. Obligations of NBS as a reporting entity  
3.1 The ECB welcomes the exclusion of the accounts that NBS maintains  for the State Treasury, the 
Office of the Council for Budgetary Responsibility, the Investment Guarantee Fund and the Deposit 
Protection Fund , and of the accounts that it maintain s in connec tion with TARGET services  (PM 
accounts,  T2S DCA s for securities trading and TIPS DCA s for instant payments)  from the scope of 
reporting to the register . To enhance the clarity of this exclusion, the ECB suggest s to the consulting 
authority the inclusion in the text of the draft law of the examples mentioned in the explanatory 
memorandum.  
 
19  See paragraph 2 of Opinion CON/2011/30 ; paragraph 2 of Opinion CON/2011/98; paragraph 3.2 of Opinion 
CON/2015/36 ; paragraphs 2.2, 3.2 and 3.8 of Opinion CON/2016/35 ; paragraph 4. 2 of Opinion CON/2017/20;  
paragraph 2.3 of Opinion CON/2018/4 ; paragraph 2.1 of Opinion CON/2018/57;  paragraph 2.10 of Opinion 
CON/2022/2; and paragraph 2.2.5 of the ECB’s Convergence Report, June 2020.     
ECB -PUBLIC  
8 3.2 The draft law requires NBS to provide the account information to the register by the end of the day 
following that on which the creation, change or deletion of the relevant data in the account information 
takes place.  NBS is also required to take appropriate organisational, personnel -related, control -
related and technical measures to ensure adequate security of the data transmitted to the register, 
including protecting the data from unauthorised processing, misuse, loss, deletion and damage. The 
ECB understands that the details of the transmission of the data to the register as well as of the 
measures to ensure adequat e security of the data transmitted to the register will be specified by the 
Ministry of Finance. The ECB invites the Ministry of Finance to closely consult with NBS  in advance 
of specifying of such details.  
 
This opinion will be published on EUR -Lex. 
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 1 March 2022.  
 
[signed]  
 The President of the ECB  
Christine  LAGARDE