Paolo Bartolozzi (PPE-DE), in writing. – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, by amending the directives on credit institutions, their own funds, large exposures, supervisory arrangements, and crisis management, the European Union is moving towards a general realignment of the entire system.

The amended directive would eliminate the discretion the Member States have over their own funds, which would hinder the harmonisation of supervisory and fair competition practices between banks. These discrepancies must be overcome by common rules to allow audit bodies and central banks to face up to the possible insolvency of the banking system, particularly in countries that have adopted the euro. The amendments concern the need to tighten up the supervision of cross-border banking groups.

The reopening of interinstitutional negotiations on the agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council concerned the minimum threshold to be allocated to the nominal value of the securitisations. This refers to the amount of risk that banks must retain in their own balance sheets when they place ‘structured’ products with savers.

Within the Council all the Member States voted to keep a threshold of 5%. Raising it would make it impossible for the securitisation market to recover and would not help to make the markets safe again.