Opinion of the European Central Bank of 1 March 2022 on the establishment and operation of the central register of accounts (CON/2022/7)
Date: 2022-03-01
Institutions: European Central Bank
Subjects: legal basis

EN 

ECB-PUBLIC 

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK 

of 1 March 2022 

on the establishment and operation of the central register of accounts 

(CON/2022/7) 

Introduction and legal basis 

On 3 January 2022 the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from Minister for Interior of the 

Slovak  Republic for an opinion on a draft law on the  central register of  accounts1 (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 2, as 

the  draft  law  relates  to  Národná  banka  Slovenska  (NBS).  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 draft law seeks to implement the requirement under Article 32a of Directive 2015/849/EU of the

European Parliament and of the Council (hereinafter the ‘AMLD4’) 3 as introduced by an amendment 

in  20184  by  establishing  the  central  register  of  accounts  (hereinafter  the  ‘register’),  which  will  be 

operated and administered by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter the ‘Ministry 

of Finance’).  

1.2  The  register  will  contain  the  following  information:  the  identification  of  the  financial  institution  that 

maintains the account or leases out the safe-deposit box, the date on which the account was opened 

or on which the lease on the safe-deposit box began, the account number, the international bank 

account number (IBAN) (if assigned) or designation of the safe-deposit box, the identification details 

of the client, the identification details of the beneficial owner, details on the client’s authorisation to 

handle the funds in the account, the date of suspension of the account and the date of termination 

of the lease on the safe-deposit box (hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘account information’). 

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Návrh zákona o centrálnom registri účtov a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov. 
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). 
Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use 
of  the  financial  system  for  the  purposes  of  money  laundering  or  terrorist  financing,  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 
648/2012  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council,  and  repealing  Directive  2005/60/EC  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73). 
See Directive (EU) 2018/843 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive (EU) 
2015/849  on  the  prevention  of  the  use  of  the  financial  system  for  the  purposes  of  money  laundering  or  terrorist 
financing, and amending Directives 2009/138/EC and 2013/36/EU (OJ L 156, 19.6.2018, p. 43). 

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1.3  The  draft  law  requires  financial  institutions  (i.e.  banks  and  branches  of  foreign  banks,  payment 

institutions and branches of foreign payment institutions, electronic money institutions and branches 

of  foreign  electronic  money  institutions,  securities  dealers  and  branches  of  foreign  securities 

dealers), central depositories and NBS (hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘reporting entities’) 

to provide the account information. The account information must be provided to the register by the 

end of the day following that on which the creation, change or deletion of the relevant data in the 

account information takes place. 

1.4  Under the draft law, NBS is not obliged to provide the account information in respect of accounts that 

NBS  opens  on  the  basis  of  specific  regulations  or  a  contractual  relationship  with  international 

institutions. The draft law provides examples of such accounts in a footnote by referring to provisions 

regarding the accounts that NBS opens for the State Treasury (Štátna pokladnica) 5, the accounts in 

the  payment  systems  operated  by  NBS6,  and  the  accounts  that  NBS  opens  in  its  capacity  as  a 

settlement  agent7.  The  explanatory  memorandum  accompanying  the  draft  law  clarifies  that  these 

exempted  accounts  are  the  ones  that  NBS  opens  in  its  capacity  as  a  monetary  authority  or  an 

operator of payment systems (e.g. the account maintained for the State Treasury, the Office of the 

Council  for  Budgetary  Responsibility,  the  Investment  Guarantee  Fund  and  the  Deposit  Protection 

Fund),  and  the  accounts  maintained  for  other  financial  institutions  (e.g.  accounts  maintained  in 

connection  with  TARGET  services  that  are  Payments  Module  (PM)  accounts  maintained  for  the 

purpose of settling the payments of participants in TARGET2, TARGET2-Securities Dedicated Cash 

Accounts  (T2S  DCAs)  for  securities  trading  and  TARGET  Instant  Payment  Settlement  Dedicated 

Cash Accounts (TIPS DCAs) for instant payments). 

1.5  The  reporting  entities  are  responsible  for  the  correctness  and  completeness  of  the  account 

information reported to the register. The account information is considered to be correct and up-to-

date  data  when  it  is  the  same  as  the  data  that  the  reporting  entities  maintain  in  their  information 

systems.  The  Ministry  of  Finance  will  not  check  or  be  responsible  for  the  correctness  and 

completeness of the account information reported to the register. 

1.6  The  account  information  in  the  register  will  be  made  available  through  a  direct,  continuous  and 

remote  access  to  the  register  by  the  following  authorities:  (i)  a specific  unit  of  the  financial  police 

service  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  tasks  under  the  Law  on  protection  against  money 

laundering  and  terrorist  financing8;  (ii)  a law  enforcement  agency  or  a court,  for  the  purposes  of 

a criminal procedure; (iii) the financial directorate, for the purposes of tax administration and criminal 

investigation; (iv) the customs and the tax authority, for tax administration and customs supervision 

purposes;  (v)  criminal  police,  financial  police  and  police  inspection  services,  for  the  purpose  of 

exercising their criminal investigation powers; (vi) the financial police services for the purposes of 

tasks  in  the  area  of  proving  origin  of  assets;  (vii)  the  National  Security  Authority  (Národný 

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By  reference  to  Article  25  of  Law  No.  566/1992  Coll.  on  the  National  Bank  of  Slovakia  (zákon  č.  566/1992  Zb.  o 
Národnej banke Slovenska). 
By  reference  to  Article  45(3),  point  (a),  of  Law  No.  492/2009  Coll.  on  payment  services  and  on  amendments  and 
supplements to certain laws (zákon č. 492/2009 Z. z. o platobných službách a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov). 
By reference to Article 47(3) of Law No. 492/2009. 
Zákon  č.  297/2008  Z.  z.  o  ochrane  pred  legalizáciou  príjmov  z  trestnej  činnosti  a  o  ochrane  pred  financovaním 
terorizmu a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov. 

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bezpečnostný úrad), Slovak Information Service (Slovenská informačná služba), Military Intelligence 

(Vojenské spravodajstvo) and the police force, for the purposes of security checks; (viii) the Slovak 

Information  Service,  for  the  purposes  of  the  fight  against  organised  crime  and  terrorism;  (ix)  the 

Military Intelligence, for the purpose of fulfilling of its statutory tasks; (x) the criminal office of financial 

administration,  for  the  purposes  of  criminal  investigations  and  the  sharing  of  information  with  the 

European Anti-Fraud Office; and (xi) the Ministry of Finance, in connection with the application of 

international sanctions (hereinafter the ‘authorised authorities’). 

1.7  Account information provided to or by the register will be regarded as banking secrets and protected 

data under a specific regulation 9. The Ministry of Finance will have to take appropriate organisational, 

personnel-related, control-related and technical measures to ensure adequate security of the data 

stored  in  the  register,  including  protecting  the  data  from  unauthorised  processing,  misuse,  loss, 

deletion and damage. The same is required from the authorities authorised to access the information 

as  well  as  the  reporting  entities  when  they  transmit  data  to  the  central  register  of  accounts.  The 

Ministry  of  Finance  is  authorised  to  request  from  the  authorised  authorities  and  reporting  entities 

proof of compliance with these measures. 

1.8  The draft law confers on NBS the task of supervising the compliance of financial institutions and any 

central securities depository (hereinafter collectively referred to as the ‘supervised entities’) with their 

obligations in the provision of account information to the register. NBS will have access to the account 

information stored in the register for the purpose of carrying out this supervision. Where a supervised 

entity provides to the register partial, incomplete or false account information, fails to provide to the 

register the account information using the prescribed method or within the prescribed time, or fails to 

provide  historical  account  information,  NBS  will  be  able  to  impose  fines  of  up  to  EUR  500  00010. 

Fines of between EUR 10 000 and EUR 1 000 000 will be imposed by NBS where repeated breaches 

occur within a two-year period. 

2. 

Conferral of a new task on NBS 

2.1  New task of NBS 

2.1.1  The  supervision  of  the  compliance  of  supervised  entities  with  their  obligation  to  provide  account 

information  to  the  register  does  not  appear  to  be  merely  auxiliary  to  NBS’s  existing  role  as  a 

competent authority designated under the AMLD4 to supervise the compliance by credit and financial 

institutions  with  anti-money  laundering  and  counter-terrorist  financing  (AML/CFT)  requirements 11. 

While Article 32a of the AMLD4 requires the information contained in the centralised database to be 

accessible to the competent authorities designated under the AMLD4, the register will also facilitate 

the performance of the investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs 

authorities in Slovakia. 

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Article 109 of Law No. 566/2001 Coll. on securities and investment services (the Securities Act) and on amendments 
and supplements to certain laws. (Zákon č. 566/2001 Z.z. o cenných papieroch a investičných službách a o zmene a 
doplnení niektorých zákonov (zákon o cenných papieroch)) 
Article 11(2) of the draft law. 

Articles 29 and 31 of Law No. 297/2008. 

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2.1.2  The ECB underlines that a proposed conferral of new tasks on a national central bank (NCB) in the 

European System of Central Banks (ESCB) must be assessed against the prohibition on monetary 

financing  laid  down  in  Article  123(1)  of  the  Treaty.  For  the  purposes  of  that  prohibition,  Article 

1(1)(b)(ii) of Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/9312 defines ‘other type of credit facility’, inter alia, as 

“any financing of the public sector’s obligations vis-à-vis third parties”. 

2.1.3  Ensuring that Member States implement a sound budgetary policy is one of the key objectives of the 

monetary financing prohibition, which may not be circumvented13. Therefore, the task of financing 

measures, which are normally the responsibility of the Member States, and which are financed from 

their budgetary sources rather than by the NCBs, must not be entrusted to NCBs. To decide what 

constitutes financing of the public sector’s obligations vis-à-vis third parties, which can be translated 

as the provision of central bank financing outside the scope of central bank tasks, it is necessary to 

carry out, on a case-by-case basis, an assessment of whether the task to be undertaken by an NCB 

is  a  central  bank  task  or  a  government  task,  i.e.  a  task  within  the  responsibilities  of  the  Member 

States.  

2.1.4  As part of its discretion in the exercise of its duty, on the basis of Article 271(d) of the Treaty and 

Article 35.6 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central 

Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’), to ensure that NCBs honour the obligations laid down 

by the Treaty, the Governing Council has endorsed criteria for determining what may be seen as 

falling  within  the  scope  of  a  public  sector  obligation  within  the  meaning  of  Article  1(1)(b)(ii)  of 

Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 or, in other words, what constitutes a government task as follows: 

First, central bank tasks are in particular those tasks that are related to  the tasks that have been 

conferred on the ECB and the NCBs by the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB. These tasks are 

mainly defined in Article 127(2), (5) and (6) and Article 128(1) of the Treaty, as well as Article 22 and 

Article 25.1 of the Statute of the ESCB. 

Second, as Article 14.4 of the Statute of the ESCB allows NCBs to perform ‘other functions’, new 

tasks, i.e. tasks that are not related to tasks that have been conferred on the ECB and the NCBs, are 

not precluded per se. However, new tasks that are undertaken by an NCB and which are atypical of 

NCB  tasks  or  which  are  clearly  discharged  on  behalf  of,  and  in  the  exclusive  interest  of  the 

government or of other public sector entities should be considered government tasks. 

Third, an important criterion for qualifying a new task as atypical of an NCB task or as being clearly 

discharged on behalf of and in the exclusive interest of the government or other public sector entities 

is the impact of the task on the institutional, financial and personal independence of that NCB. 

In particular, the following aspects should be taken into account: 

(a)  whether the performance of the new task creates conflicts of interest with existing central bank 

tasks,  which  are  not  adequately  addressed,  and  does  not  necessarily  complement  those 

existing  central  bank  tasks.  If  a  conflict  of  interest  arises  between  existing  and  new  tasks, 

sufficient safeguards to mitigate that conflict should be in place. The complementarity between 

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Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 of 13 December 1993 specifying definitions for the application of the prohibitions 
referred to in Articles 104 and 104b(1) of the Treaty (OJ L 332, 31.12.1993, p. 1). 
Article  123  of  the  Treaty  also  serves  the  objective  of  maintaining  price  stability  and  reinforces  central  bank 
independence. 

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a new task and existing central bank tasks should not be interpreted broadly, so as to lead to 

the  creation  of  an  indefinite  chain  of  ancillary  tasks.  Such  complementarity  should  be 

examined in relation to the financing of those tasks; 

(b)  whether without new financial resources the performance of the new task is disproportionate 

to  the  NCB’s  financial  or  organisational  capacity,  and  may  have  a  negative  impact  on  the 

capacity to properly perform the existing central bank tasks; 

(c)  whether the performance of the new task fits into the institutional set-up of the NCB in the light 

of central bank independence and accountability considerations; 

(d)  whether the performance of the new task harbours substantial financial risks; 

(e)  whether the performance of the new task exposes the members of the NCB decision-making 

bodies to political risks that are disproportionate and may also have an impact on their personal 

independence and, in particular, on the guarantee of term of office set out in Article 14.2 of the 

Statute. 

2.1.5  Based on the criteria set out above, the following paragraphs assess whether NBS’s new task is in 

line with the prohibition of monetary financing. 

2.2  Tasks related to the tasks conferred on the ECB and the NCBs by the Treaty and the Statute of the 

ESCB 

The task of supervising the compliance of supervised entities with their obligation to provide account 

information to the register for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of possible 

money  laundering  or  terrorist  financing  as  well  as  for  the  facilitation  of  the  performance  of  the 

investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia 

is not related to the tasks conferred on the ECB and the NCBs by the Treaty and the Statute of the 

ESCB. 

2.3  Tasks which are atypical of central bank tasks  

The task of supervising the compliance of supervised entities with their obligation to provide account 

information to the register for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of possible 

money  laundering  or  terrorist  financing  as  well  as  for  the  facilitation  of  the  performance  of  the 

investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia 

appears atypical of NCB tasks14. 

2.4  Tasks clearly discharged on behalf of and in the exclusive interest of the government 

Notwithstanding NBS’s existing role as a competent authority designated under the AMLD4, the new 

task  under  the  draft  law  appears  to  be  discharged  on  behalf  of  and  in  the  interest  of  the  Slovak 

government, as its purpose is to further the Slovak government’s interest in  being able to access 

information efficiently for the prevention, detection or investigation of money laundering or terrorist 

14   While the ECB has previously opined that tasks entrusted to an NCB relating to the establishment of a central register 
of bank accounts are not central bank tasks nor do they facilitate the enforcement of such tasks, it has not yet opined 
on the task of the supervision of the compliance of supervised entities with an obligation to provide account information 
to  the  register.  See  paragraph  2.1  of  Opinion  CON/2011/30,  paragraph  3.1.3  of  Opinion  CON/2015/36,  paragraph 
3.1.3 of Opinion CON/2015/46 and paragraph 2.2.5.1 of the ECB’s Convergence Report 2018. All ECB opinions are 
published on EUR-Lex. 

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financing  as  well  as  for  the  facilitation  of  the  performance  of  the  investigative  tasks  of  the  law 

enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia. 

2.5  Extent to which performance of the new task creates conflicts of interest with existing central bank 

tasks 

The performance of the task of supervising the compliance of supervised entities with their obligation 

to  provide  account  information  to  the  register  is  unlikely  to  give  rise  to  any  conflicts  of  interest  in 

connection with NBS’s existing central bank tasks. 

2.6  Extent to which performance of the new  task is disproportionate to the financial or  organisational 

capacity of NBS 

2.6.1  As previously noted by the ECB 15, Member States must not put their NCBs in a position where they 

have insufficient resources to carry out both their ESCB-related tasks and their national tasks, from 

an operational and financial perspective. Furthermore, when allocating specific new tasks to NCBs, 

each NCB concerned should have sufficient financial and human resources at its disposal to ensure 

that the tasks can be carried out without impacting on the NCB’s financial or operational capacity to 

perform its ESCB-related tasks. In order to ensure that NBS’s capacity to perform its ESCB-related 

tasks is not impaired, NBS must, therefore, be able to avail itself of the necessary resources to carry 

out its responsibilities under the draft law.  

2.6.2  The draft law does not cover the funding of NBS’s new task. However, the explanatory memorandum 

accompanying the draft law expressly puts the new task in the context of NBS’s broader supervision 

tasks under the Law on the supervision of the financial market16 which requires NBS to supervise all 

entities in the financial market, ensuring compliance with the provisions of laws specifically applicable 

to  the  supervised  entities  or  to  their  activities  as  well  as  with  legally  binding  Union  acts17.  In  this 

regard, the ECB notes that ‘the entities to which an authorisation or other permit to operate in the 

financial market  has been issued’ are required to  pay annual contributions to NBS18. Against this 

backdrop, the ECB invites the consulting authority to consider the impact of the draft law on NBS’s 

resources and to consider whether current financing arrangements, i.e. annual contributions to NBS, 

would sufficiently cover the costs associated with the new task under the draft law as well.  

2.7  Extent to which performance of the new task fits into the institutional set-up of NBS, in the light of 

central bank independence and accountability considerations 

As noted above, the explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft law expressly puts the new 

task  in  the  context  of  NBS’s  broader  supervision  tasks  under  the  Law  on  the  supervision  of  the 

financial market. The explanatory memorandum accompanying the draft law also further expresses 

the expectation that supervision under the draft law will be performed as part of already established 

activities of NBS’s financial market supervision unit. Against this backdrop, the performance of the 

new supervision task does not appear to conflict with NBS’s institutional set-up. 

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See, for example, paragraph 4.6.1 of Opinion CON/2018/21. 
Law 747/2004 on Supervision of the financial market and on amendments and supplements to certain laws (‘Law on 
supervision of the financial market’) (Zákon 747/2004 o dohľade nad finančným trhom a o zmene a doplnení niektorých 
zákonov). 
Article 1(3)(a), point 2., of the Law on supervision of the financial market. 
Article 40(1) of the Law on supervision of the financial market. 

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2.8  Extent to which the performance of tasks harbours substantial financial risks 

The draft law does not address NBS’s potential liability in the event of legal action, application or 

other legal proceeding for damages in relation to the exercise of (or failure to exercise) its powers 

under the draft law. In the absence of any provision in the draft law excluding NBS’s liability when 

performing the tasks under the draft law, NBS would ultimately be liable for damages in accordance 

with Slovak state liability rules. Therefore, the new task conferred on NBS under the draft law would 

entail additional financial risks. However, such risks should not be considered substantial as they do 

not materially increase the financial risks of the supervisory tasks already assumed by NBS when 

performing supervision under the Law on the supervision of the financial market. 

2.9  Extent to which the performance of the new task exposes members of the decision-making bodies 

of NBS to disproportionate political risks and impacts on their personal independence 

The performance of the new task conferred under the draft law does not appear to expose NBS’s 

decision-making  bodies  to  any  disproportionate  political  risk  or  have  an  impact  on  their  personal 

independence.  

2.10  Conclusions on monetary financing considerations 

Notwithstanding NBS’s existing role as a competent authority designated under the AMLD4, the new 

task  under  the  draft  law  is  essentially  discharged  on  behalf  of  and  in  the  interest  of  the  Slovak 

government, as its purpose is to further the Slovak government’s interest in ensuring that relevant 

authorities are able to access information efficiently for the prevention, detection or investigation of 

money  laundering  or  terrorist  financing  as  well  as  for  the  facilitation  of  the  performance  of  the 

investigative tasks of the law enforcement, security, military, tax and customs authorities in Slovakia. 

Consequently, in order to ensure compliance with the monetary financing prohibition, the NBS needs 

to be fully and adequately remunerated when carrying out its task in relation to the register under the 

draft law19. The ECB therefore invites the consulting authority to consider the impact of the draft law 

on  NBS’s  resources  and  to  ensure  that  the  current  financing  framework,  which  entails  financing 

through  annual  contributions  to  NBS  as  laid  down  in  the  Law  on  the  supervision  of  the  financial 

market, would sufficiently cover the costs associated with the new task under the draft law. 

3. 

Obligations of NBS as a reporting entity 

3.1  The ECB welcomes the exclusion of the accounts that NBS maintains for the State Treasury, the 

Office of the Council for Budgetary Responsibility, the Investment Guarantee Fund and the Deposit 

Protection  Fund,  and  of  the  accounts  that  it  maintains  in  connection  with  TARGET  services  (PM 

accounts, T2S DCAs for securities trading and TIPS DCAs for instant payments) from the scope of 

reporting to the register. To enhance the clarity of this exclusion, the ECB suggests to the consulting 

authority  the  inclusion  in  the  text  of  the  draft  law  of  the  examples  mentioned  in  the  explanatory 

memorandum. 

19  

See  paragraph  2  of  Opinion  CON/2011/30;  paragraph  2  of  Opinion  CON/2011/98;  paragraph  3.2  of  Opinion 
CON/2015/36;  paragraphs  2.2,  3.2  and  3.8  of  Opinion  CON/2016/35;  paragraph  4.2  of  Opinion  CON/2017/20; 
paragraph  2.3  of  Opinion  CON/2018/4;  paragraph  2.1  of  Opinion  CON/2018/57;  paragraph  2.10  of  Opinion 
CON/2022/2; and paragraph 2.2.5 of the ECB’s Convergence Report, June 2020.    

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3.2  The draft law requires NBS to provide the account information to the register by the end of the day 

following that on which the creation, change or deletion of the relevant data in the account information 

takes  place.  NBS  is  also  required  to  take  appropriate  organisational,  personnel-related,  control-

related and technical measures to ensure adequate security of the data transmitted to the register, 

including protecting the data from unauthorised processing, misuse, loss, deletion and damage. The 

ECB understands that the  details  of  the transmission  of the  data to the register  as well as of the 

measures to ensure adequate security of the data transmitted to the register will be specified by the 

Ministry of Finance. The ECB invites the Ministry of Finance to closely consult with NBS in advance 

of specifying of such details. 

This opinion will be published on EUR-Lex. 

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 1 March 2022. 

[signed] 

The President of the ECB 

Christine LAGARDE 

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