EU Finance Ministers Set to Call for Simpler Financial Services Regulations

European Union finance ministers will reportedly press for simplification of the bloc’s financial services laws when the ministers meet on Friday (Dec. 12).

The finance ministers will call for the European Commission to review, simplify and in some cases repeal financial services laws, the Financial Times reported Wednesday (Dec. 10), citing draft conclusions of a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN).

They will also call on the Commission to improve the mandates of EU supervisory authorities to ensure better reporting, greater accountability and a focus on reducing the regulatory burden on financial services, according to the report.

Finance ministers are expected to agree that EU financial regulation has “become more complex and more extensive than necessary, thereby burdening businesses, including SMEs [small and medium-sized enterprises], and public administrations and authorities.”

They are expected to approve these recommendations unanimously at Friday’s ECOFIN meeting, per the report.

The agenda highlights page for the ECOFIN meeting set for Friday includes “simplification of financial services legislation.”

“The Council will approve conclusions in simpler financial regulations,” the page said.

According to the FT report, European banks have complained that the European Union has three times more pages of prudential regulation than the United States and Canada.

Banks have also noted that both the U.S. and the United Kingdom are easing their bank regulations, and they are concerned that U.S. banks will gain an advantage when competing in foreign markets, per the report.

It was reported Dec. 3 that the European Central Bank is set to announce proposals to simplify some of its regulations in response to similar overhauls being carried out by regulators in the U.S. and the U.K.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, told lawmakers in Brussels that there are about 15 areas in which a task force of the central bank will recommend simplifications.

In the U.S., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced in October new guidance and proposed rulemakings, saying it aims to reduce “regulatory burden” for community banks and promote economic growth.

In the U.K., the Financial Conduct Authority said in March that it planned to retire more than 100 pages of outdated guidance, withdraw hundreds of supervisory publications and take other steps to make it easier for consumer finance, investment and mortgage firms to navigate regulations.