Opinion of the European Central Bank of 12 July 2013 on stabilisation measures (CON/2013/50)
Date: 2013-07-12
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Romania, banking supervision, central bank, credit institution, financial stability, national law

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 12 July 2013  

on stabilisation measures  

(CON/2013/50) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 19 June 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Banca Naţională a României 

(BNR)  for  an  opinion  on  a  draft  government  emergency  ordinance  (hereinafter  the  ‘draft  emergency 

ordinance’)  supplementing  Government  Emergency  Ordinance  No  99/2006  on  credit  institutions  and 
capital adequacy (GEO No 99/2006)1.  

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  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  provisions 2,  as  the  draft  emergency  ordinance  relates  to  BNR  and  to  rules 

applicable  to  the  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 emergency ordinance 

The draft emergency ordinance extends the scope of BNR’s competence to adopt stabilisation measures3 to 

cases where there is a threat to financial stability from the perspective of depositor protection and/or public 

confidence in the banking sector.  

2. 

General observations  

The  ECB  welcomes  the  enlargement  of  BNR’s  competence  to  adopt  stabilisation  measures  on  the 
additional grounds set out in the draft emergency ordinance4. Depositor protection is a legitimate aim for 

the resolution of distressed credit institutions which meet the conditions for resolution and it is in line with 

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4 

Published in Monitorul Oficial al României, Part One, No 1027, 27.12.2006. 
OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
See Opinion CON/2011/86. All ECB opinions are published on the ECB’s website at www.ecb.europa.eu. 
See Article 24023(1) of GEO No 99/2006 as amended by the draft emergency ordinance. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
ECB-PUBLIC 

the  Financial  Stability  Board’s  (FSB)  Key  Attributes  of  Effective  Resolution  Regimes  for  Financial 
Institutions5.   

3. 

Specific observations 

3.1 

In  view  of  the  above  observations,  in  Section  21  (stabilisation  measures)6 of  GEO  No  99/2006  it 

would  be  appropriate  to  make  a  clearer  distinction  between  the  objectives  behind  stabilisation 

measures,  such  as  financial  stability  from  the  perspective  of  safeguarding  market  confidence  and 

depositor protection, and the conditions that need to be met before such measures are taken against a 

distressed credit institution. 

3.2 

In  this  regard,  BNR  is  invited  to  follow  the  European  Commission’s  proposal  for  a  directive 
establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms7, 

which is currently going through the adoption process in the Council and the European Parliament, 

and to align the regime for stabilisation measures with that proposal.   

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 12 July 2013. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

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6  
7  

FSB Key attributes for effective resolution regimes for financial institutions, October 2011, available on the FSB’s website 
at www.financialstabilityboard.org. See objective (ii) in the Preamble on page 3 of that document. 
In particular Article 24023, as amended by the draft emergency ordinance.  
Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a framework  for the recovery and 
resolution  of  credit  institutions  and  investment  firms  and  amending  Council  Directives  77/91/EEC  and  82/891/EC, 
Directives  2001/24/EC,  2002/47/EC,  2004/25/EC,  2005/56/EC,  2007/36/EC  and  2011/35/EC  and  Regulation  (EU) 
No 1093/2010 (COM (2012) 280 final). This text is now to go into the trialogue stage of the adoption process.  

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