Banking Supervision
Banking Supervision
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Decision-making

We have the authority to take supervisory decisions that banks under our supervision are legally required to follow.

What kind of decisions do we take?

We grant and withdraw banking licenses, set capital requirements and can decide whether a bank is considered significant or less significant.

We also approve a bank’s request to acquire a large stake in or merge with another bank, decide whether members of a management body are suitable and can impose enforcement measures and sanctions on significant banks.

How do we take decisions?

The Supervisory Board prepares draft decisions, which are then adopted by the Governing Council under a non-objection procedure. If the Governing Council does not object within a defined period of time, the decision is deemed adopted.

More about decisions

Governing Council objection

If the Governing Council objects, the decision then goes back to the Supervisory Board, which submits a new draft. If needed, a Mediation Panel can help resolve different views expressed by the national supervisory authorities regarding an objection.

Review of the decision

A review of an adopted decision may also be requested, in which case the Administrative Board of Review submits a non-binding opinion to the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board can then submit a new draft decision.

Supervisory framework decisions

Decisions on the general supervisory framework (e.g. the SSM Framework Regulation) are taken by the Governing Council outside of the non-objection procedure.

Our duty to explain our decisions

Our supervisory decisions are accompanied by clear reasoning which sets out the material facts, legal reasons and supervisory considerations underlying the decision.

Banks’ right to be heard

Banks affected by our draft decisions must have the opportunity to comment on these decisions before they are adopted. This ensures that they can respond to our factual and legal analysis, and also means that our decision-making is based on a complete set of information.

Banks’ right to access supervisory files

Banks have the right to access the supervisory file before a decision that can negatively affect them is adopted. They can access the file from the start of the supervisory procedure until the decision is final.

Separation principle

To prevent potential conflicts of interest between the ECB’s monetary policy and supervisory responsibilities, we keep our objectives, decision-making processes and tasks separate.

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