FMI reitera necesidad de tres pilares para verdadera unión bancaria

Genevieve Signoret & Patrick Signoret

En conferencia telefónica, los autores del informe reciente del FMI Una Unión Bancaria para la Zona del Euro reiteraron la importancia de una unión bancaria para la zona del euro y la necesidad de tres elementos fundamentales para lograrla: supervisión común, resolución común y una red de protección (garantía de depósitos) común. Para mayor contexto, lea nuestro guía sobre el acuerdo de diciembre de unión bancaria europea (La Carpeta Monetaria, primera y segunda parte).

Transcripción de la conferencia telefónica:

The paper outlines the three key elements of a complete banking union: one is common supervision. The second is common resolution, which would need a resolution authority. And the third is common safety net. We think that these three elements together would promote financial stability. Further, a key feature of the crisis in the euro area is the very strong links between the borrowing costs of sovereigns and banks. A banking union would help substantially weaken these links, and thus promote economic stability and a more resilient monetary union.

Un supervisor único no sólo limitaría la acumulación excesiva de riesgo; también disminuiría la fragmentación de mercados financieros:

Common supervision in Europe would, first and foremost, address financial market fragmentation. What is unusual about the euro area, for a currency union, is that liquidity still remains largely in member states and national jurisdictions, or in national banking systems. And this liquidity does not move around the euro area as it should in the spirit of a single market. It reflects national regulators’ and supervisors’ concerns about their own banking system and their cross-border exposures. So they are encouraged to keep liquidity in their home market, which leads to financial fragmentation. As we document in the paper, it results in very different borrowing rates across the euro area. We therefore think that common supervision will not only raise standards of supervision and limit the buildup of excessive risk concentrations that threaten systemic stability but will also address financial market fragmentation.

Un fondo de resolución común ayudaría a desvincular bancos y soberanos:

“Resolution,” currently, when there are problems in banks, is the responsibility of member states at the national level. We think that this should move to the center, at the supranational level, to help break these sovereign-bank links. The issues around resolution are, at least in the public debate, largely centered on the cost of it. In our view, you can pay for most resolution cases via the industry itself, with some kind of levy. But there will always need to be a common and credible backstop for systemic cases or for cases where problems may start in what appear to be small banks but then spread because of correlated exposures. So you always need a backstop from the center.

Los autores son conservadores en cuanto a garantía de depósitos:

Finally, the third element of a banking union—a common safety net—really speaks to the issue of standardizing and providing a common deposit insurance. Now, that is a step further out in time. We would argue that it should form a key element of the banking union. But we recognize that it will take time. In Europe, this is currently being addressed to start with through the EU Directive to standardize national deposit insurance systems and harmonize them. Later on, we hope that this will lead to a common deposit insurance for the euro area.

Parecen estar convencidos que será absolutamente necesario en al algún momento, pero que podría durar años en implementarse. De la sesión de preguntas y respuestas (énfasis nuestro):

QUESTION: You talk about “well-defined timetable” at the outset for the further steps. What do you have in mind? Can you tell us what the timeline should be and how long it should stretch out?

The report seems to hedge a little bit on whether failing to complete the banking union would be worse than the status quo. You have a line in there saying “missing elements would result in an incoherent banking union and, at worst, an architecture inferior to the current national-based one.” Could you just string that out a little bit?

MS. KOEVA BROOKS: I think the plan is to implement all three elements of the banking union—not only the single supervisory mechanism, but also the single resolution authority, and, eventually, progress towards a safety net. As Mahmood said at the beginning, we understand that some of these elements would take more time to implement, including the agreement on a common backstop. So, in some ways, the specific dates are not as critical as the plan itself. But making that clear, and communicating it to the public and to markets, will anchor confidence and help the euro area come out of the crisis.

QUESTION: That is all very fine, and it’s fairly clear from the report. But what have you got in mind?

MS. KOEVA BROOKS: I think a time horizon of 2-5 years seems realistic.

MR. PRADHAN: If I understand your question, namely whether a missing element actually could be counterproductive. I want to ask Giovanni to speak to that and, in particular, the connection between common supervision and resolution.

MR. DELL’ARICCIA: I think the point that we want to make is that, in order for this new arrangement to work, it has to have, at least over the medium run, all three elements. The risks with an incomplete banking union are that the governance and the incentives associated with that incompleteness could lead to problems. In particular, there are basic principles on banking supervision and regulation that basically say that the power has to be where the money is. And so if you transfer supervision and resolution to the center, you also need to transfer also, over the medium run, the safety net. One thing cannot go without the other. At the same time, you do not want to have a safety net at the center, if the supervision and resolution powers are not there, and that is a good principle that is in the current proposal. That is why it is a good start.

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