Opinion of the European Central Bank of 18 November 2008 at the request of Българска народна банка (Bulgarian National Bank) on a draft law amending the Law on credit institutions (CON/2008/71)
Date: 2008-11-18
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Bulgaria, banking supervision, credit institution, financial stability, national implementing measure, payment system

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 18 November 2008  

at the request of Българска народна банка (Bulgarian National Bank) 

on a draft law amending the Law on credit institutions 

(CON/2008/71) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  22  October  2008  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Governor  of 

Българска народна банка (Bulgarian National Bank) (BNB) for an opinion on a draft law amending the 

Law on credit institutions (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). 

The  ECB’s  competence  to  deliver  an  opinion  is  based  on  Article  105(4)  of  the  Treaty  establishing  the 

European Community and the third and sixth indents 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 
legislative  provisions1,  as  the  draft  law  relates  to  BNB  and  to  rules  applicable  to  financial  institutions 

insofar as they materially influence the 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  is  primarily  aimed  at  transposing  Directive  2007/44/EC2  into  national  law  and  adopting 
other related  provisions3. The ECB has  not been consulted on the transposition  measures. Accordingly, 

this  opinion  only  relates  to:  (i)  the  draft  law  provisions  on  the  establishment  of  a  register  of  financial 
institutions managed by BNB4; and (ii) the introduction of a European dimension to BNB’s supervisory 

powers. 

1  
2 

3 
4 

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Directive 2007/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 September 2007 amending Council Directive 
92/49/EEC  and  Directives  2002/83/EC,  2004/39/EC,  2005/68/EC  and  2006/48/EC  as  regards  procedural  rules  and 
evaluation criteria for the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increase of holdings in the financial sector (OJ L 247, 
21.9.2007, p.1).  
See draft Articles 79(1) and 103(2). 
See draft Articles 3 and 3a. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
2. 

Specific comments 

2.1.   The  draft  law  will  empower  BNB  to  carry  out  new  tasks  related  to  setting  up  and  maintaining  a 
register of financial institutions at BNB5. In particular, financial institutions not subject to license 

or registration under another law will be entered into the BNB register in order to be able to carry 

out their activities. The ECB welcomes the creation of the public register for financial institutions 

at BNB and recommends that BNB be provided with sufficient financial and personnel resources to 
carry out its register-related tasks6.  

2.2  Furthermore, it is important to ensure that the draft law complies with Community legislation, and 

in particular with the definition of financial institutions. In this regard, the list of activities financial 

institutions  may  engage  in  should  also  include  the  issuance  and  administration  of  means  of 
payment7 as provided for in Article 4(5) of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and 

of  the  Council  of  14  June  2006  relating  to  the  taking  up  and  pursuit  of  the  business  of  credit 
institutions  (recast)8.  However,  the  ECB  understands  that  the  draft  law  on  payment  services  and 
payment  systems  (LPSPS),  on  which  the  ECB  has  recently  been  consulted9,  provides  for  the 

amendment  of  Articles  2(2)  and  3(1)  of  the  Law  on  credit  institutions  according  to  which  the 

provision of payment services within the meaning of the LPSPS and the issuing and administering 

of other means of payment (e.g. traveller cheques and letters of credit) will be included within the 

list of activities that financial institutions may engage in. It appears that both draft laws will enter 

into force at different points in time. In this respect, the two draft laws should be properly aligned 

in order to remove this inconsistency with Community legislation.  

2.3.  Moreover,  draft  Article  3a(3)  should  also  be  aligned  with  Community  legislation  so  that  the 

application of this provision is explicitly restricted to financial institutions established in Bulgaria, 

and thus does not apply to financial institutions of other Member States. 

2.4.  Finally, the draft law provides that, in exercising its supervisory functions, BNB must recognise the 
possible impact of its actions on the financial stability of other Member States10. The ECB notes 

that  this  provision  is  aimed  at  reflecting  the  conclusions  of  the  Ecofin  meeting  of  14  May  2008, 

5 
6 

7 

8 
9 

10 

See Article 3 and 3a of the draft law. 
See  paragraph  4  of  ECB  Opinion  CON/2007/40  of  12  December  2007  at  the  request  of  Българска  народна  банка 
(Bulgarian National Bank) on a draft law introducing a licensing regime for entities providing money remittance services; 
paragraph 2 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/38 of 23 November 2007 at the request of the Slovenian Ministry of Finance on 
a draft law on foreign exchange; paragraph 3.3 of ECB Opinion CON/2007/29 of 5 October 2007 at the request of the 
Portuguese Ministry of Finance and Public Administration on a draft decree-law amending the legal framework of credit 
institutions  and  financial companies;  paragraph 2.1  of  ECB  Opinion  CON/2007/23  of  2  August  2007  at  the  request  of 
Banca  Naţională  a  României  on  a  draft  law  on  non-banking  financial  institutions;  and  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 supervision of markets and the functioning of the competent independent authorities. 
See  sub-paragraph  2  of  Article  2(2)  of  the  Law  on  credit  institutions  published  in  Darjaven  Vestnik  issue  No  59, 
21.07.2006, as last amended on 05.08.2008. 
OJ L 177, 30.6.2006, p. 1. 
On 22 October 2008 the ECB received a request from the BNB’s Governor for  an opinion on a draft law on payment 
services and payment systems.  
See draft Article 79(1). 

2 

                                                 
namely  that  the  mandates  of  national  supervisory  authorities  should  allow  them  to  take  the  EU 
dimension into account in exercising their duties11.  

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.  

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 18 November 2008. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

11  

See the Council conclusions on the EU Supervisory Framework and Financial Stability Arrangements, as agreed by the 
Ecofin on 14 May 2008, available on the Council’s website at http://consilium.europa.eu.   

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