Opinion of the European Central Bank of 9 December 2013 on the data reporting obligations supporting supervisory tasks of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank (CON/2013/88)
Date: 2013-12-09
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: Hungary, central bank, disclosure of information, financial institution, financial supervision, insurance company, national law, statistics

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 9 December 2013  

on the data reporting obligations supporting supervisory tasks of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank 

(CON/2013/88) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 11 November 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Magyar Nemzeti 

Bank  (MNB)  for  an  opinion  on  four  draft  decrees  related  to  statistical  data  provisions  to  the  MNB 

(hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘draft decrees’). 

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 fourth 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  decrees  relate  to  the  collection,  compilation  and  distribution  of 

monetary, financial, banking, payment systems and balance of payments statistics. 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 decrees 

1.1  Pursuant to the provisions of the new Law on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank2, the Hungarian Financial 

Supervisory Authority (HFSA) was dissolved and its functions and responsibilities were transferred 

to the MNB on 1 October 2013. From this date, the MNB became the entity not only responsible 

for  macro-prudential  policy,  but  also  for  micro-prudential  supervision  of  the  entire  financial 

market.  As  a  result,  the  Governor  of  the  MNB  has  been  entrusted  with  adopting  secondary 

legislation on subject matters relating to the MNB’s new supervisory functions. 

1.2  The draft decrees regulate the data reporting obligations of certain supervised entities operating in 

the  following  markets:  (a)  the  money  market,  e.g.  credit  institutions,  financial  enterprises, 

payment  institutions;  (b)  the  capital  market,  e.g.  investment  companies,  investment  funds, 

investment  service  providers;  and  (c)  the  insurance  market,  e.g.  insurance  companies,  small  and 

large  associations,  independent  insurance  agents  and  the  Association  of  Hungarian  Insurance 

Companies. One of the draft decrees also lays down data reporting obligations for pension funds 

and pension providers. 

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2  

OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42. 
Law CXXXIX of 2013 on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank. 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
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1.3  The  explanatory  memorandum  attached  to  the  consultation  request  indicates  that  the  main 

objectives to be achieved by imposing these reporting obligations on supervised institutions are to: 

(a) verify compliance with prudential and consumer protection rules applicable to these entities; (b) 

ensure the availability of institution-level monitoring and risk assessment; (c) provide the necessary 

data for macro-prudential analyses; and (d) prepare statistical analyses and publications. 

1.4  The  draft  decrees  also  aim  to  transpose  specific  provisions  of  Directive  2013/36/EU  of  the 
European Parliament and of the Council3 (hereinafter the ‘CRD IV Directive’) into Hungarian law, 

and  effect  changes  and  clarifications  to  Hungarian  law  made  necessary  by  Regulation  (EU) 
No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council4. 

2.   The appropriate time to consult the ECB 

The MNB has sought the ECB’s opinion on an urgent basis, given that the draft decrees are due to enter 

into force on 1 January 2014. 

In  recent  opinions5  the  ECB  has  drawn  the  Hungarian  legislator’s  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  lacuna 

resulting  from  the  general  repeal  of  all  legislation  applicable  to  supervised  entities  adopted  by  the 

President  of  the  HFSA  on  the  dissolution  of  the  HFSA  and  transfer  of  its  responsibilities  to  the  MNB 

would  cause  legal  uncertainty  for  the  supervised  entities  and  hinder  the  MNB’s  ability  to  adopt  the 

regulations applicable to supervised entities in a timely manner. For reasons of legal certainty, the ECB 

also considered that, unless the decrees adopted by the President of the HFSA became obsolete from an 

operational rather than an institutional point of view, the legislation previously adopted by the President 

of the HFSA should continue to apply after the transfer of supervisory tasks from the HFSA to the MNB 

until  the  MNB  is  ready  to  adopt  new  decrees  regulating  the  subject  matter  at  hand.  However,  the 

Hungarian legislator has failed to introduce such a provision into the Law on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank. 

In the light of the above, the ECB reiterates that, in accordance with Article 4 of Decision 98/415/EC, it 

must  be  consulted  ‘at  an  appropriate  stage’  in  the  legislative  process,  which  means  that  such  a 

consultation should take place at a point in the legislative process that affords the ECB sufficient time to 

examine  the  draft  legislative  provisions  and  adopt  its  opinion.  Pursuant  to  Article  3(4)  of  Decision 

98/415/EC, Member States are obliged to suspend the process of adoption of draft legislative provisions 

pending  submission  of  the  ECB’s  opinion  to  allow  the  relevant  national  authorities  to  meaningfully 

consider the ECB’s opinion prior to adoption of the provisions. 

Accordingly,  the  ECB  stresses  that,  even  in  cases  of  particular  urgency  or  where  the  legislation  has 

reached an advanced stage, the national authorities are not relieved of their duty to consult the ECB at an 

appropriate  stage  in  the  legislative  process  that  allows  sufficient  time  for:  (a)  the  ECB  to  examine  the 

3  

4  

5  

Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit 
institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms amending Directive 2002/87/EC and 
repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 338). 
Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements 
for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 1). 
See  Opinions  CON/2013/56  and  CON/2013/71.  All  ECB  opinions  are  published  on  the  ECB’s  website  at 
www.ecb.europa.eu. 

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draft legislative provisions and adopt its opinion in all required language versions; and (b) the national 

authorities to take into account the ECB’s views in accordance with Decision 98/415/EC. The ECB would 

appreciate the MNB honouring its obligation to consult the ECB in line with the provisions of Decision 

98/415/EC in the future. 

3. 

General observations  

3.1  The  ECB  welcomes  the  fact  that  reference  is  made  in  the  draft  decrees  to  acts  of  Union  law 

concerning  the  prudential  supervision  of  the  activities  of  credit  institutions  and  investment  firms 

that lay down the supervised entities’ reporting obligations. At the same, the ECB also notes that 

provisions  of  Union  law  also  regulate  supervised  entities’  reporting  obligations  in  the  areas  of 
capital  market  regulation6  and  insurance7,  and  that  there  has  been  alignment  of  the  draft  decrees 

with these provisions. Further alignment will be necessary in view of upcoming Union legislative 
proposals8. 

3.2  Article  58  of  the  CRD  IV  Directive  provides  that  Member  States  should  take  the  appropriate 

measures  to  ensure  that  a  competent  authority  is  not  prevented  from  transmitting  information 

concerning  monetary,  deposit  protection,  systemic  and  payment  aspects  data  to,  inter  alia,  the 

members  of  the  European  System  of  Central  Banks  (ESCB)  for  the  purposes  of  their  tasks.  The 

Hungarian legislator should therefore ensure that the applicable Hungarian confidentiality regime is 

aligned with the CRD IV Directive. 

3.3 

In  relation  to  the  statistical  aspect  of  the  reporting  obligations  the  draft  decrees  impose  on  the 

supervised entities, the ECB observes that, when the ECB was consulted on the draft Law on the 
Magyar Nemzeti Bank, it pointed out9 that the Law on the Magyar Nemzeti Bank does not list the 

ECB and the ESCB among the organisations with which the MNB cooperates. Notwithstanding the 

provisions  of  Article  4(6)  of  the  Law  on  the  Magyar  Nemzeti  Bank  providing  for  the  MNB 

fulfilling  its  statistical  reporting  obligations  towards  the  ECB,  the  MNB’s  legal  obligation  to 

cooperate  with  the  ESCB  and  the  ECB  in  the  field  of  statistics  should  be  observed.  Such 

cooperation is provided for in the first indent of Article 46.2 of the Statute of the European System 

of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Statute of the 

ESCB’). 

6  

7  

8  

9  

See, e.g. Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on markets in financial 
instruments  amending  Council  Directives  85/611/EEC  and  93/6/EEC  and  Directive  2000/12/EC  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directive 93/22/EEC (OJ L 145, 30.4.2004, p. 1); and Article 9 of 
Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central 
counterparties and trade repositories (OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 1). 
See, e.g., Article 35 of Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on 
the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II) (OJ L 335, 17.12.2009, p. 1). 
See, e.g. Title IV of a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial 
instruments  and  amending  Regulation  [EMIR]  on  OTC  derivatives,  central  counterparties  and  trade  repositories 
(COM(2011) 652 final). 
See paragraph 3.1.9 of Opinion CON/2013/56. 

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Although  Regulations  adopted  under  Article  34.1  of  the  Statute  of  the  ESCB  in  the  field  of 

statistics  do  not  confer  any  rights  or  impose  any  obligations  on  Member  States  that  have  not 

adopted the euro, Article 5 of the Statute of the ESCB, which concerns the collection of statistical 

information,  applies  to  all  Member  States,  regardless  of  whether  they  have  adopted  the  euro. 
Furthermore, Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/9810, which was adopted on the basis 

of Article 5.4 of the Statute of the ESCB, requires all Member States to ‘… organise themselves in 

the field of statistics and … fully cooperate with the ESCB in order to ensure the fulfilment of the 

obligations arising out of Article 5 of the Statute’. Accordingly, Member States whose currency is 

not the euro are under an obligation to design and implement, at national level, all measures they 

consider  appropriate  to  collect  the  statistical  information  needed  to  fulfil  the  ECB’s  statistical 

reporting requirements and to make timely preparations in the field of statistics in order for them to 

become Member States whose currency is the euro. The ECB expects the MNB to cooperate with 

the ESCB and the ECB in the field of statistics as provided for by the applicable Union legislation 

in relation to the data it collects. 

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

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 9 December 2013. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Mario DRAGHI 

10  

Council Regulation (EC) No 2533/98 of 23 November 1998 concerning the collection of statistical information by the 
European Central Bank (OJ L 318, 27.11.1998, p. 8). 

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