Opinion of the European Central Bank of 5 May 2009 on the liberalisation of correspondent banking services for payments in the national currency and on related statistical reporting requirements (CON/2009/43)
Date: 2009-05-05
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Romania, banking supervision, central bank, credit institution, national currency, national law, payment system

EN 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 5 May 2009 

on the liberalisation of correspondent banking services 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  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  Banca  Naţională  a 

României  (BNR)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  Regulation  on  the  liberalisation  of  correspondent  banking 

services for payments in national currency and on statistical reports to be submitted to Banca Naţională a 

României  on  payments  made  through  correspondent  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 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  regulation  relates  to  the  collection,  compilation  and  distribution  of 

monetary,  financial,  banking,  payment  systems  and  balance  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  established  in  Romania,  which  it  refers  to  as  ‘credit 

institutions’. In particular, the draft regulation: (i) removes the restriction on correspondent banking 

operations  performed  in  Romanian  national  currency  which  currently  apply  to  participants  in 

Romanian payment systems; (ii) creates the legal framework which enables the credit institutions 

as defined by it to perform payment services – and other services related to payments – in national 

currency  through  correspondent  banking  arrangements  for  other  credit  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.  

 
 
 
 
                                                 
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 criteria 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 establishes 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  the  draft  regulation,  the  ECB  recommends  inserting  a 

definition for ‘overnight credit’, which appears to be necessary taking into 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. 

2