EN ECB -PUBLIC  
 
 
 OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK  
of 9 December 2013   
on the data reporting obligations support ing supervisory tasks  of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank  
(CON/2013 /88) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 11 November  2013 , the European Central Bank (ECB) received a r equest from the Magyar Nemzeti 
Bank (MNB) fo r an opinion on four draft decrees related to statistical data provisions to the MNB  
(hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘draft decrees’ ). 
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 fourth indent of Article  2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC 
of 29  June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft 
legislativ e provisions1, as the draft decrees relate to the collection, compilation and distribution of 
monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of payments statistics . 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 decrees  
1.1 Pursuant to  the provisions of the new Law on the M agyar Nemzeti Bank2, the Hungarian Financial 
Supervisory Authority (HFSA) was dissolved an d its functions and responsibilities were  transferred 
to the MNB o n 1 October 2013. From this date, the MNB became  the entity not only responsible 
for macro -prudential policy, but also for micro -prudential supervision of the entire financial 
market. As a r esult, the Governor of the MNB has been entrusted with adopting secondary 
legislation on subject matters relating to the MNB’s new supervisory functions.  
1.2 The draft decrees regulate the data reporting obligations of certain supervised entities operating  in 
the following markets:  (a) the money market , e.g.  credit  institutions , financial  enterprises , 
payment  institutions ; (b) the capital market , e.g.  investment companies, investment  funds,  
investment  service providers ; and (c) the insurance market , e.g.  insurance companies, small and 
large associations, independent  insurance  agents  and the Association  of Hungarian  Insurance 
Companies . One of the  draft decrees  also lay s down  data reporting obligations for pension funds 
and pension providers.  
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
2  Law CXXXIX of 2013 on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank . 
ECB -PUBLIC  
2 1.3 The explanat ory memorandum attached to the consultation request  indicate s that the  main 
objectives  to be achieved by  imposing these reporting obligations on supervised institutions are  to: 
(a) verify  compliance with prudential and consumer protection rules applicable to these entities; ( b) 
ensure the availability of institution -level monitoring and risk assessment; ( c) provide  the necessary 
data for macro -prudential analyses; and (d) prepare  statistical analyses and publications.  
1.4 The draft decrees also aim to trans pose specific provisions of Directive 2013/36/EU of the 
European Parliament and of the Council3 (hereinafter the ‘CRD IV Directive’) into Hungarian law,  
and effect  changes and clarifications to Hungarian law made necessary by Regulation (EU) 
No 575/2013 of  the European Parliament and of the Council4. 
 
2.  The appropriate time to consult the ECB  
The MNB has sought the ECB’s opinion on an urgent basis, given that the  draft decrees are due  to enter 
into force on 1 January 2014.  
In recent opinions5 the ECB has drawn the Hungarian legislator ’s attention to the fact that  the lacuna  
resulting from the general repeal of all legislation applicable to supervised entities adopted by the 
President of the HFSA on the dissolution of the HFSA and transfer of its responsibi lities to  the MNB 
would  cause legal uncertainty for the supervised entities and hinder the MNB’s ability to adopt  the 
regulations applicable to supervised entities in a timely manner.  For reasons of legal certainty, the ECB 
also consider ed that, unless the  decrees adopted by the President of the HFSA became obsolete from an 
operational rather than an institutional point of view, the legislation previously adopted by the President 
of the HFSA should continue to apply after the transfer of supervisory tasks f rom the HFSA to the MNB 
until the MNB is ready to adopt new decrees regulating the subject matter at hand. However, the 
Hungarian legislator has failed to introduce such  a provision  into the Law on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank . 
In the light of the  above, t he EC B reiterates that, in accordance with Article 4 of Decision 98/415/EC, it 
must be consulted ‘at an appropriate stage’ in the legislative process, which  means  that such a 
consultation should take place at a point in the legislative process that affords the ECB sufficient time to 
examine the draft legislative provisions and adopt its opinion. Pursuant to  Article 3(4) of Decision 
98/415/EC, Member States are obliged to suspend the process of adoption of draft legislative provisions 
pending submission of the EC B’s opinion to allow the relevant national authorities to meaningfully 
consider the ECB’s opinion prior to adoption of the provisions.  
Accordingly, the ECB stresses that , even in cases of particular urgency or where the legislation has 
reached an advanced stage, the national authorities are not relieved of their duty to consult the ECB at an 
appropriate stage in the legislative process that allows sufficient time for: (a) the ECB to examine the 
                                                 
3  Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parli ament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit 
institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms  amending Directive 2002/87/EC and 
repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC  (OJ L 176,  27.6.2013, p. 338).  
4  Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements 
for credit institutions and investment firms  and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012  (OJ L 176 , 27.6. 2013 , p. 1). 
5  See Opinions CON/2013/56 and CON/2013/71. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at 
www.ecb.europa.eu.  
ECB -PUBLIC  
3 draft legislative provisions and adopt its opinion in all requi red language versions; and (b) the national 
authorities to take into account the ECB’s views in accordance with Decision 98/415/EC. The ECB would 
appreciate the MNB  honouring its obligation to consult the ECB in line with the provisions of Decision 
98/415/ EC in the future.  
 
3. General observations   
3.1 The ECB welcomes the fact that reference is made in the draft decrees to acts of Union law 
concerning the prudential supervision of the activities of credit institutions and investment firms 
that lay down the  supervised entities ’ reporting obligations . At the same , the ECB also notes that 
provisions of  Union law also regulate supervised entities’ reporting obligations  in the areas of 
capital market  regulation6 and insurance7, and that there has been alignment of the draft decrees 
with these provisions . Further alignment will be necessary in view of upcoming Union legislative 
proposals8. 
3.2 Article 58 of the CRD IV Directive provides  that Member States should take the appropriate 
measures to ensure that a compe tent authority is not prevented from transmitting  information 
concerning  monetary, deposit protection, systemic and payment aspects data to, inter alia , the 
members of the E uropean System of Central Banks (ESCB)  for the purposes of  their tasks . The 
Hungari an legislator should therefore ensure that the applicable Hungarian confidentiality regime is 
aligned with the CRD IV Directive.  
3.3 In relation to  the statistical aspect of the reporting obligations  the draft decrees  impose  on the 
supervised entities , the ECB observes that , when the ECB  was consulted on the draft Law on the 
Magyar Nemzeti Bank, it pointed out9 that the Law on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank does not list the 
ECB and the ESCB among the organisations with which the MNB cooperates . Notwithstanding th e 
provisions of Article 4(6) of the Law on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank providing for the MNB 
fulfilling its statistical reporting obligations towards the ECB, the MNB’s legal obligation  to 
cooperate with the ESCB and the ECB in the field of statistics  should be observed . Such 
cooperation is provided for in the first indent of Article 46.2 of the Statute of the E uropean System 
of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Statute of the 
ESCB’) . 
                                                 
6  See, e.g. Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial 
instruments amen ding Council Directives 85/611/EEC and 93/6/EEC and Directive 2000/12/EC of the European 
Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 93/22/EEC  (OJ L 145, 30.4.2004, p. 1 ); and Article 9 of 
Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parli ament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central 
counterparties and trade repositories  (OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 1 ). 
7  See, e.g., Article 35 of Directive 2009/138/EC  of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on 
the taking -up and pursuit of the business of Insuranc e and Reinsurance (Solvency II)  (OJ L 335, 17.12.2009, p. 1 ). 
8  See, e.g. Title IV of a propos al for a  regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial 
instruments and amen ding Regulation [EMIR] on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories 
(COM(2011) 652 final ). 
9  See paragrap h 3.1.9 of Opinion CON/2013/56 . 
ECB -PUBLIC  
4  Although Regulations adopted u nder Article 34.1 of the Statute of the ESCB in the field of 
statistics do not confer any rights or impose any obligations on Member States that have not 
adopted the euro, Article 5 of the Statute of the ESCB, which concerns the collection of statistical 
information, applies to all Member States, regardless of whether they have adopted the euro. 
Furthermore, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/9810, which was adopted on the basis 
of Article 5.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, requires all Member States to ‘… organise themselves in 
the field of statistics and … fully cooperate with the ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the 
obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute’. Accordingly, Member States whose currency is 
not the euro are under an o bligation to design and implement, at national level, all measures they 
consider appropriate to collect the statistical information needed to fulfil the ECB’s statistical 
reporting requirements and to make timely preparations in the field of statistics in order for them to 
become Member States  whose currency is the euro . The ECB expects the MNB to cooperate with 
the ESCB and the ECB in the field of statistics as provided for by the applicable Union legislation 
in relation to  the data it collects.  
 
This opin ion will be published on the ECB’s website.  
 
 
Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 December 2013.  
 
[signed]  
 
The President of the ECB  
Mario DRAGHI  
                                                 
10  Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistica l information by the 
European Central Bank  (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8 ).