EN ECB-PUBLIC  
 
 
OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 
of 21 September 2011 
on statistics and interbank money and government securities markets managed by 
Banca Na ţională a României, and the foreign exch ange and minimum reserves regime 
(CON/2011/73) 
 
Introduction and legal basis  
On 31 May 2011, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Banca Na ţională a României 
(BNR) for an opinion on its draft regulation on sta tistics, its draft regulation on interbank money and 
government securities markets managed by BNR and th e foreign exchange and minimum reserves regime, 
and its draft regulation on payments. 
This opinion concerns the draft regulation on statisti cs (hereinafter the ‘first draft regulation’) and the 
draft regulation on interbank m oney and government securities markets managed by BNR, and the 
foreign exchange and minimum reserves regime  (hereinafter the ‘second draft regulation’). 
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, the third, fourth a nd sixth indents of Article 2(1), and Article 2(2) of 
Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by 
national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions1, as the draft regulations relate to BNR; the 
collection, compilation and distribution of monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of 
payments statistics; and rules applicable to financial institutions insofar as they materially influence the 
stability of financial instit utions and markets. In accordance with th e 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 regulations 
BNR’s two draft regulations are the result of a syst ematisation and standardi sation process through which 
the BNR will consolidate regulations currently in fo rce that it has adopted in the performance of its 
statutory tasks. The objectives of this process are to ensure legal clarity, consistency, access and 
understanding. 
                                                 
1  OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
ECB-PUBLIC  
2 1.1 The first draft regulation 
The draft regulation on statistical data and inform ation reporting to BNR provides the framework for the 
collection, processing, analysis and dissemination of statistical data in its areas of competence. It covers reporting of data and information (i) on monetary and financial statistics, balance of payments and 
Romania’s medium and long-term private external debt , (ii) for the oversight of money/foreign exchange 
market transactions, and (iii) for payments overs ight. It defines the reporting mechanisms under the 
relevant Union regulations
2.  
1.2 The second draft regulation 
This draft regulation covers BNR’s monetary policy a nd exchange rate policy, the foreign exchange and 
minimum reserves regimes, as well as transactions with  government securities and certificates of deposit. 
 2. General observations  The ECB welcomes BNR’s efforts to increase legal certa inty, as well as the transparency and clarity of its 
requirements for market participants. Moreover, such  a project should take into account the need for 
precision and consistency throughout the draft regul ations and with the national and Union legal 
frameworks. Although Romania has not yet adopted the euro, the draft provisions should already take into consideration and be broadly consis tent with the Union legislative framework that will apply in Romania 
once it has adopted the euro. 
 3. Specific observations  The first draft regulation  3.1 The regime for the production of European statistics is set out in Regulations (EC) Nos 223/2009 
3 
and 2533/984. A national regime’s specific arrange ments should optimise the quality and 
availability of official statistics, also in the c ontext of the NCB’s participation in the European 
                                                 
2  Regulation ECB/2008/32 of 19 December 2008 concerning the balance sheet of the monetary financial institutions sector 
(recast) (OJ L 15, 20.1.2009, p. 14). 
Regulation ECB/2001/18 of 20 December 2001 concerning statistic s on interest rates applied by monetary financial 
institutions to deposits and loans vis- à-vis households and non-financial cor porations (OJ L 10,  12.1.2002, p. 24). 
Regulation ECB/2007/8 of 27 July 2007 concerning statistics on th e assets and liabilities of investment funds (OJ L 211, 
11.8.2007, p. 8). 
Regulation (EC) No 184/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 January 2005 on Community statistics 
concerning balance of payments, international trade in servi ces and foreign direct investme nt (OJ L 35, 8.2.2005, p. 23). 
Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 924/2009/EC of the Eur opean Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on 
cross-border payments in the Commun ity and repealing Regulation (EC) No 2560/2001 (OJ L 266, 9.10.2009, p. 11). 
3  Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament an d of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics 
and repealing Regulation (EC, Eurato m) No 1101/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the 
transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to  the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Council 
Regulation (EC) No 322/97 on Community Statistics, and Council Decision 89/382/ EEC, Euratom establishing a 
Committee on the Statistical Programmes of the European Communities (OJ L 87, 31.3.2009, p. 164).  
4  Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the European 
Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8). 
ECB-PUBLIC  
3 System of Central Banks (ESCB) in general and its duty to collaborate with the ECB on statistical 
matters in particular, while preserving its independe nce as a central bank participating in the ESCB. 
The second draft regulation 
3.2  Member States that have not adopted the eu ro retain their monetary policy powers. It is 
nevertheless beneficial for them to achieve consis tency with Eurosystem st andards so that their 
credit institutions can familiarise th emselves with the requirements th at will apply once the euro has 
been introduced. With these considerations in mind, the ECB welcomes Title IV of this draft 
regulation, outlining the architecture and operation of the minimum reserves regime for Romanian 
credit institutions. The regime strongly resembl es the Eurosystem’s mi nimum reserves framework5. 
The main parameters are calculated in a similar manner, including the computation of the reserve 
base and the resulting minimum reserves require ments and its averaging mechanism. These 
similarities are expected to make the future tr ansition of Romanian credit institutions to the 
Eurosystem’s minimum reserves framework smoother and more straightforward. 
3.3 The ECB has, nevertheless, identified a numbe r of differences between the minimum reserves 
regime for Romanian credit institutions and th e Eurosystem’s minimum reserves framework.  
3.3.1 First, the reserve base for Romanian coopera tive credit institutions appears to differ from that 
applicable to other credit institutions. The Euro system’s minimum reserves framework treats all 
credit institutions equally, irrespective of their nomenclature. While legitimate economic 
considerations relevant to the market share of  cooperative credit institutions in Romania may 
warrant a differentiated treatment for the purposes of the imposition and collection of minimum reserves, such differentiated treatment will be uns ustainable once Romania has adopted the euro.  
3.3.2 Second, BNR will communicate the remuneration rate on minimum reserves to credit institutions 
only on an ad hoc basis. Under the Eurosystem’s minimum re serves framework, the relevant rate is 
derived from the main financing operation rates. In  the interests of transparency, the consulting 
authority should consider communicating, ex ante , the basis on which the remuneration rate is to be 
defined. Similar considerations apply to BNR’s di scretion as regards the penalty rate, compared to 
the fixed penalty rate under the Euro system’s minimum reserves framework
6.  
3.3.3 Third, under the Romanian minimum reserves regime, the credit institutions’ minimum reserves 
calculations may be revised both during the reser ve maintenance period and subsequently. The 
Eurosystem’s minimum reserves framework consid ers the credit institutions’ minimum reserves 
calculations to be frozen at the start of the re levant reserve maintenance period. A national law 
arrangement more closely resembling the Euro system’s minimum reserves framework would 
provide more legal certainty. 
                                                 
5  The reference is mainly to Regulation ECB/2003/9 of 12  September 2003 on the applic ation of minimum reserves 
(OJ L 250, 2.10.2003, p. 10), which also provides th e basis for sub-paragraph 3.3.2 of this Opinion. 
6 This is derived from the marginal lending facility rate, incremented by 250 basis points. 
ECB-PUBLIC  
4 3.3.4 Finally, there are also differences in sanctions wh en data for the calculation of a credit institution’s 
minimum reserves requirements are reported la te, as well as for repetitive breaches. In both cases 
the sanctions under the minimum reserves regime fo r Romanian credit institutions are considerably 
more severe compared to the corresponding sanctio ns under the Eurosystem’s minimum reserves 
framework.  
  This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.    Done at Frankfurt am Main, 21 September 2011. 
 
[signed] 
 
The President of the ECB 
Jean-Claude TRICHET