Brexit : the transfer of the European Banking Authority's headquarters to Paris

The 27 Member States meeting on 20 November 2017 in the Council of Ministers of the European Union (EU) chose Paris, after two rounds of voting and a drawing of lots, to host the headquarters of the European Banking Authority (EBA).

The European institutions will thus have to amend Article 7 of European Regulation 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and the Council of 24 November 2010 (the Regulation) establishing the EBA, which provided that "the authority at its headquarters in London".

The impacts of this decision are significant at both operational and regulatory level for all EU financial actors.  

Indeed, EBA is one of three supervisory authorities (with the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) set up under the European System of Financial Supervisors.

The tasks of the EBA are laid down in the Regulation and more particularly in Article 8, which stipulates that the Authority shall be responsible:

• assess the risks and vulnerabilities of the European banking sector,
• contribute to the consistent functioning of colleges of supervisors, monitoring, evaluation and measurement of systemic risk,
• contribute to the creation of common standards and practices by providing advice to EU institutions and developing guidelines, recommendations and draft technical standards. The aim is to create a rulebook of harmonized prudential rules for financial institutions across the EU.

In this respect, the transfer of the EBA's headquarters to a legal environment marked by continental influence and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, which played a powerful role in the banking sector through the City, could have a direct impact on the design and adoption of this rulebook on the European banking environment, while facilitating the regulatory harmonization wanted by the European legislator.

Moreover, today, within the framework of its missions, the EBA is committed to security and stability, but remains attentive to the needs of financial sector players. In this respect, Articles 10 and 11 of the Regulation provide in particular for public consultations to be held by the Authority before drafting draft technical regulatory or implementing standards, and Article 37 of the Regulation also provides for the creation of a "banking stakeholders group", composed in part of members of credit institutions and investment firms, in the context of the preparation of these technical standards.

With a view to continuing exchanges with the Authority and carrying out their lobbying activity, the transfer of the EBA's headquarters should encourage financial institutions to move closer to the head office in Paris.