Letter from Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), to Constantinos Petrides, Minister for Finance of Cyprus, regarding a request for an ECB opinion on a draft law on the Business of Credit Institution Law
Date: 2021-01-22
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: legal basis

Frank Elderson 
Member of the Executive Board 

Mr Constantinos Petrides 
Minister for Finance 
Michael Karaoli and Gregori Afxtentiou 
1439 Nicosia 
CYPRUS 

ECB-PUBLIC 

22 January 2021 

Request of the Minister for Finance for an ECB opinion on the draft law on the Business of Credit 

Institution Laws  

Dear Mr Petrides, 

Thank you for your letter received on 22 December 2020 requesting an opinion of the European Central 

Bank (ECB) on a draft law amending the Law on business of credit institutions 1 (the ‘draft law’). After careful 
consideration of the draft law, the ECB has decided not to adopt a formal opinion in the present case as 

the draft law only touches marginally on the ECB’s fields of competence pursuant to Articles 127(4) and 

282(5)  of  the  Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union,  in  conjunction  with  Council  Decision 

98/415/EC2.  

As you know,  the main purpose of the draft  law is to  allow the  Central  Bank of  Cyprus, as the national 

competent authority, to impose licensing fees on any legal entity which applies for authorisation to take up 

the business of a credit institution for services rendered by the Central Bank of Cyprus. It is further noted 

that the calculation and the payment of such licensing fees will be further described in a directive to  be 

adopted by the Central Bank of Cyprus. 

The  ECB  notes  that  the  proposed  amendment  is  considered  to  be  in  line  with  Article  30(5)  of  Council 

Regulation (EU) No 1024/20133, which provides that the annual supervisory fees levied by the ECB are 

without prejudice to the right of the national competent authorities to levy fees in accordance with national 

law. In view of the above, and the fact that the right of the national competent authorities to levy fees is 

dealt with under national law, the ECB considers that the draft law only touches marginally on the ECB’s 

fields of competence pursuant to Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty and Council Decision 98/415/EC. 

Against this backdrop, the draft law does not require the issuance of a formal ECB opinion.  

Nevertheless, the ECB appreciates that you have sent the draft law to the ECB for consultation, particularly 

in view of the relevance of the draft law in relation to the ECB’s prudential supervisory competences.  

1   Draft law amending the Business of Credit Institutions Laws of 1997 to (No. 7) of 2020. 
2   Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities 

regarding draft legislative provisions (OJ L 189, 3.7.1998, p. 42). 

3   Council  Regulation  (EU)  No  1024/2013  of  15  October  2013  conferring  specific  tasks  on  the  European  Central  Bank 

concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (OJ L 287, 29.10.2013, p. 63). 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
We remain confident that the Ministry of Finance will continue to consult the ECB on future draft legislative 

proposals  that  fall  within  the  ECB’s  fields  of  competence  under  the  Treaty  and  Decision  98/415/EC, 

including future legislation concerning the prudential supervision of credit institutions.  

ECB-PUBLIC 

Yours sincerely, 

[signed] 

Cc:  Mr C. Herodotou, Governor, Central Bank of Cyprus 

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