Banking supervision in the EU: the European Court of Auditors and the European Central Bank reach an agreement on sharing sensitive bank-specific data for auditing purposes

Met dank overgenomen van Europese Rekenkamer i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 28 augustus 2019.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) have agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) setting out the practical arrangements for sharing information during the ECA’s audits of the ECB’s supervisory activities.

The document, while reaffirming the independence of the ECB and the ECA in the exercise of their functions, sets out the arrangements for document and information exchange to guarantee the ECA full access to all the information needed to perform audits on the ECB’s banking supervision. It contains provisions to protect confidential and market-sensitive material, including bank-specific data.

The MoU covers solely the ECA’s audit of the ECB’s supervisory tasks conferred on it by the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) Regulation, in line with the ECA’s mandate under EU law.

We welcome having reached an agreement with the ECB on how to deal with sensitive bank-specific data,” said Klaus-Heiner Lehne i, the ECA President. “This MoU will foster smooth and constructive cooperation between our institutions, and facilitate our audit work in the context of banking supervision.”

The official signing ceremony will take place in Luxembourg on 9 October 2019. The MoU will then be published on the websites of both the ECA and the ECB.

Information note: Banking supervision in the EU: the European Court of Auditors and the European Central Bank reach an agreement on sharing sensitive bank-specific data for auditing purposes.