Opinion of the European Central Bank of 10 June 2011 on Národná banka Slovenska’s role as regards financial supervision and consumer credit (CON/2011/49)
Date: 2011-06-10
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovakia, consumer credit, disclosure of information, electronic money, exchange of information, financial supervision, national law, payment system

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 10 June 2011  

on Národná banka Slovenska’s role as regards financial supervision and consumer credit 

(CON/2011/49) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On  29  April  2011  the  European  Central  Bank  (ECB)  received  a  request  from  the  Slovak  Ministry  of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  law  amending  Law  No  492/2009  Coll.  on  Payment  Services  and  on 

amendments  to  certain  laws,  as  amended  by  Law  No  …/2011  Coll.,  and  amending  certain  laws 

(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  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  law  relates  to  Národná  banka  Slovenska 

(hereinafter  ‘NBS’)  and  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 law 

1.1  The  main  purpose  of  the  draft  law  is  to  transpose  Directive  2009/110/EC  of  the  European 

Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  16  September  2009  on  the  taking  up,  pursuit  and  prudential 

supervision  of  the  business  of  electronic  money  institutions  amending  Directives  2005/60/EC 
and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/46/EC2, and Directive 2010/76/EU of the European 

Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  24 November  2010  amending  Directives  2006/48/EC 

and 2006/49/EC as regards capital requirements for the trading book and for re-securitisations, and 
the supervisory review of remuneration policies3.  

1.2   This  opinion  only  addresses  those  draft  law  provisions  that  go  beyond  the  mere  transposition  of 
Directives  2009/110/EC  and  2010/76/EU 4.  These  relate  to:  (a)  limited  providers’ 5 notification 

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OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
OJ L 267, 10.10.2009, p. 7. 
OJ L 329, 14.12.2010, p. 3. 
This  applies  to  Law  No  492/2009  Coll.  on  payment  services;  Law  No  747/2004  Coll.  on  supervision  in  the  financial 
market; and Law No 129/2010 Coll. on consumer credits and other credits and loans for consumers. 
See  Article  3(k)  of  Directive  2007/64/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  13  November  2007  on 
payment  services  in  the  internal  market  amending  Directives  97/7/EC,  2002/65/EC,  2005/60/EC  and  2006/48/EC  and 
repealing Directive 97/5/EC (OJ L 319, 5.12.2007, p.1). 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
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obligations  towards  NBS;  (b)  the  NBS’s  role  in  the  European  System  of  Financial  Supervision 

(ESFS); (c) the calculation of the annual contributions paid by supervised entities to NBS; (d) the 

obligation on creditors to report data on newly-provided consumer credits to NBS; (e) fine-tuning 

and eliminating ambiguity in procedures related to supervision. 

2. 

General observations 

The  ECB  notes  that  it  was  not  consulted  on  the  draft  of  Law  129/2010  Coll.,  which  was  adopted  on 

9 March  2010  and  which  conferred  certain  tasks  on  NBS.  Issues  relevant  to  national  central  banks  are 

expressly  listed  among  the  areas  of  the  ECB’s  competence.  Therefore,  the  ECB  reminds  the  Slovak 

authorities that they should honour their obligation under the Treaty to consult the ECB, in accordance 

with Decision 98/415/EC. 

3. 

Specific observations 

3.1  NBS’s role in the ESFS 

Article 1(3)(e) of Law No 747/2004 Coll. deals with NBS’s obligation to exchange information and 

cooperate  at  national  and  international  level.  The  draft  law  amends  this  provision  to  expressly 

reflect NBS’s role in the ESFS. The tasks related to cooperation and exchange of information have 

already  been  conferred  on  national  supervisory  authorities  by  virtue  of  directly  applicable  Union 
regulations6. Therefore, they do not need to be transposed into the domestic law of Member States7. 

The  draft  amendment  to  Article  1(3)(e)  of  Law  747/2004  Coll.  alters  the  content  of  the 

abovementioned  Union  regulations  by  restricting  the  exchange  of  information  to  the  scope 

necessary for the supervision of supervised entities by NBS, excluding other areas, such as macro-

prudential  analysis.  The  ECB  therefore  suggests  adapting  the  current  scope  of  the  exchange  of 

information in Article 1(3)(e), so as to exclude its restrictive effect. 

Provided  that  the  amendments  referring  to  NBS’s  participation  in  the  ESFS  and  to  NBS’s 

obligation to provide for the discharge of tasks arising from legally binding Union acts are adopted, 

the last sentence of Article 4(3) of Law No 747/2004 Coll. will no longer be necessary.  

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7  

See Regulation (EU) No 1092/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 on European 
Union macro-prudential oversight of the financial system and establishing a European Systemic Risk Board (OJ L 331, 
15.12.2010, p. 1); Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 
establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority), amending Decision No 716/2009/EC and 
repealing  Commission  Decision  2009/78/EC  (OJ  L  331,  15.12.2010,  p.  12);  Regulation  (EU)  No  1094/2010  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European 
Insurance  and  Occupational  Pensions  Authority),  amending  Decision  No  716/2009/EC  and  repealing  Commission 
Decision 2009/79/EC (OJ L 331, 15.12.2010, p. 48); Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of 
the  Council  of  24  November  2010  establishing  a  European  Supervisory  Authority  (European  Securities  and  Markets 
Authority),  amending  Decision  No  716/2009/EC  and  repealing  Commission  Decision  2009/77/EC  (OJ  L  331, 
15.12.2010, p. 84).  
See  paragraph  2.4.  of  Opinion  CON/2006/29,  paragraph  3.2.3  of  Opinion  CON/2006/55  and  paragraph  2.2,(including 
footnotes 5 and 6) of Opinion CON/2007/43. 

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3.2  Calculation of the annual contributions paid by supervised entities  

Under the draft amendment to Article 40(2) of Law No 747/2004 Coll., the calculation of annual 

contributions paid by supervised entities to NBS is amended so that the volume of assets will, for 

the  purposes  of  the  annual  contribution  calculation,  not  include  assets  used  exclusively  in  the 

conduct of non-supervised commercial activities. Such non-supervised commercial activities may 

include commercial activities of a payment institution or limited issuance of electronic money by 

an  electronic  money  institution.  Under  the  draft  law,  the  contributor  is  responsible  for  notifying 

NBS of the volume of assets to be used in calculating the contribution. The NBS may verify the 

amount and request additional information and documentation. In addition, the draft law abolishes 

the maximum amount of annual contributions for certain supervised entities that are legal entities 

or branches of foreign legal entities.  

Based on these amendments, NBS’s final revenue from such contributions will change. Therefore, 

it should be ensured that this does not undermine NBS’s financial independence. 

3.3  Obligation for creditors to report data on newly-provided consumer credits to NBS  

The obligation for creditors to report data on newly-provided consumer credits to NBS was already 

included in Law No 129/2010 Coll. and the amendments introduced by the draft law on this issue 
only relate to personal data protection8. Nevertheless, Law No 129/2010 Coll. could provide more 

clarity  on  the  respective  responsibilities  of  the  Ministry  of  Finance,  NBS  and  ‘the  person 
designated by them’ with regard to the processing and disclosure of these data9. 

Financing of a new task by a national central bank has to be in line with the principle of financial 

independence, under which it must have sufficient means to perform not only its European System 

of  Central  Banks  tasks,  but  also  its  national  tasks,  e.g.  financing  its  administration  and  own 
operations10. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 10 June 2011. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Jean-Claude TRICHET 

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Article VI(14) of the draft law. 
Article 21(2) of Law No 129/2010 Coll. 
See the ECB’s convergence report, May 2010, p. 21. 

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