EUBAR project

Project

The object of the “EUBAR” project is to devise an overall and integrated enforcement system for the rules governing the banking system.

Much emphasis is placed by the European Commission’s new Banking Union Regulation on the role of supervision and enforcement given to the European Central Bank (ECB) together with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA). However, banking and financial regulatory reforms only partially address the issue of enforcement.

Regulation 2013/1024/EU establishes a system of administrative supervision but leaves out, for instance, provisions concerning criminal law or judicial enforcement. As a result, substantive law is to a large extent harmonised in the EU but the enforcement regime is left to the Member States.

Though EU authorities intended to adopt an integrated approach on banking and financial regulation, specific measures are enacted for the banking field based on sectorial policy choices, which suggests concentrating on this topic.

In this light, the research project will focus on banking law and:

• Assess the applicable law in micro and macro prudential supervision both at European and national level;
• Analyse the regulatory framework and the architectural design of relevant authorities;
• Define the obligations placed on the banking system;
• Determine the best way forward for ensuring compliance with such obligations.

More precisely, it will address the following questions:

• To what extent is EU harmonisation needed to implement administrative law enforcement?
• Are their infringements a source of civil liability?
• Are administrative sanctions a satisfactory tool to prevent harmful behaviours?
• To what extent do these behaviours need to be criminalised?
• Is it sufficient to strengthen criminal law at national level or would a certain degree of EU harmonisation be appropriate?

The final goal is to provide an overall picture for an effective enforcement of banking regulations through legislative proposals directed in particular to the EU legislator and guidelines for regulators. A more coherent application of sanctions across the EU will contribute to a credible EU supervisory system, essential to maintaining the integrity and efficient functioning of financial markets, where the danger of future systemic risk catastrophes remains clear and present.

Thus, the “EUBAR” projectis intended to encourage further European integration and this in several aspects, both at substantive and procedural levels:

• Banking and financial markets integration and
• Administrative and criminal law integration

Period: 1 April 2015 – 31 March 2018

Funding institution: Fonds Nationale de la Recherche – FNR Luxembourg

Project partners:

• Coordinating institution:
  • University of Luxembourg
• Non-contracting partners:
  • Austrian Financial Market Authority
  • Banca d’Italia
  • Banque Centrale du Luxembourg
  • Banque de France
  • Deutsche Bundesbank
  • European Central Bank
  • Polish Financial Supervision Authority

People

• Principle investigator
  • Silvia Allegrezza, University of Luxembourg, Principal Investigator
• Project collaborators
  • Giulia Lasagni, University of Luxembourg, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Ioannis Rodopoulos, University of Luxembourg, Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Olivier Voordeckers, University of Luxembourg, PhD student
• External experts (alphabetical order)
  • Raffaele d’Ambrosio, Banca d’Italia
  • Phoebus Athanassiou, European Central Bank
  • Stefan Braum, University of Luxembourg, Dean of the Faculty of Law
  • Jean-Christophe Cabotte, Banque de France
  • Éric Cadilhac, Banque Centrale du Luxembourg
  • Pierre-Henri Conac, University of Luxembourg
  • Michele Cossa, Banca d’Italia
  • Christos Hadjiemmanuil, University of Piraeus and London School of Economics
  • Peter Jedlicka, Austrian Financial Market Authority
  • Robert Kert, Vienna University of Economics and Business
  • Marco Lamandini, University of Bologna
  • Katalin Ligeti, University of Luxembourg
  • Michiel Luchtman, University of Utrecht
  • Corrado Malberti, University of Trento
  • Thomas Märzinger, European Central Bank
  • Oscar Melendez, European Central Bank
  • Christelle Molina, European Central Bank
  • Stefan Niessner, Deutsche Bundesbank
  • André Prüm, University of Luxembourg
  • Emil Radziszewski, Polish Financial Supervision Authority
  • Isabelle Riassetto, University of Luxembourg
  • John A. E. Vervaele, University of Utrecht and College of Europe