Opinion of the European Central Bank of 14 October 2011 on the financial statements register (CON/2011/80)
Date: 2011-10-14
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Slovakia, accounting, central bank, disclosure of information, financial institution, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 14 October 2011 

on the financial statements register  

(CON/2011/80) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 14 September 2011 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovak Ministry of 

Finance  for  an  opinion  on  the  draft  law  amending  Law  No  431/2002  Coll.  on  accounting,  and  on 

amendments to some 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 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 
legislative provisions1, as the draft law relates to Národná banka Slovenska. 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  establishes  a  register  for  financial  statements  managed  by  the  Ministry  of  Finance.  In 

substance,  the  centralised  registration  of  financial  statements  will  free  entities  from  the  obligation  to 

submit such statements to various other authorities. Some of these entities supervised by Národná banka 

Slovenska (NBS) are currently obliged to submit their financial statements to NBS. As a consequence of 
the  proposed  amendments2,  they  will  register  their  financial  statements  centrally,  instead  of  submitting 

them  to  NBS.  The  register  will  be  divided  into  public  and  non-public  sections.  The  public  section  will 

include  financial  statements  of  banks,  branches  of  foreign  banks,  management  companies,  branches  of 

management  companies,  insurance  companies,  branches  of  foreign  insurance  companies,  reinsurance 

companies,  branches  of  foreign  reinsurance  companies,  retirement  pension  savings  management 
companies,  supplementary  pension  asset  management  companies  and  the  stock  exchange3  (hereinafter 

‘financial institutions’). The documents in the public section of the register will be available to the public 
through the website free of charge4. 

1  
2  
3  
4  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42.  
Articles XII, XVII, XXVIII, XXXIV and XL of the draft law. 
Article I, points 22 and 10 of the draft law. 
Article I, point 22 of the draft law - proposed Article 23c(1). 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

At present, financial institutions are obliged to publish their financial statements on their websites. Under 

the draft law, financial institutions may opt to announce on their websites only that such statements have 
been registered5. 

The  draft  law  provides  that  financial  institutions  will  also  prepare  and  register  reports  on  selected  data 
from financial statements6 and amends the rules on valuation methods7 and the sanctions regime8. 

2. 

General observations  

The  ECB  understands  that  although  NBS  will  no  longer  receive  financial  statements  from  the  entities 

directly,  the  financial  statements  will  be  registered  within  unchanged  deadlines  and  accessible  to  NBS. 

Provided  that  the  draft  laws  triggers  only  this  procedural  change  and  the  required  information  remains 

available to NBS as a financial market supervisor, the ECB has no observations.  

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 14 October 2011. 

[signed] 

The Vice-President of the ECB 

Vítor CONSTÂNCIO 

5  
6  
7  
8  

Article I, point 14 of the draft law - proposed amendment to Article 21(5). 
Article I, points 13, 19 and point 22 of the draft law - proposed Article 23(2)(h). 
Article I, points 23 to 30 of the draft law. 
Article I, point 34 of the draft law. 

2