In May 2019, José Manuel Campa became the new Chair of the European Banking Authority (EBA), which has recently moved its headquarters to Paris. He answers a few questions about his new position and the work of the EBA.

The EBA has been through some big changes this year – you were appointed Chair, the agency has moved to Paris. How is the transition going?

I arrived at the EBA in the midst of big changes in terms of organisation, mandates as well as location. One thing that positively impressed me was the great adaptability and flexibility of the whole EBA staff, who embraced these changes with commitment, enthusiasm and professionalism. In particular, I was pleased to see how the move from London to Paris was carried out without any significant disruptions in daily operations and while continuing to execute the full work program for the year. This commitment to deliver is paramount for an institution that is currently witnessing a deep evolution of its mandates – namely in the areas of anti-money laundering, the implementation of Basel III and the revised payments framework. The personal attitude of every person in the EBA has also been exquisite for which I am deeply grateful. 

Have there been big changes in EBA’s staff given the change of headquarters? 

The EBA is a very dynamic and agile organisation and because of that, we have always had a healthy staff turnover of less than 10% per year. This year, despite the relocation from London to Paris, we have not experienced significant losses of key staff members. 

What are your priorities as Chair?

The first key strategic priority for the EBA is to continue the implementation of the regulatory framework for bank supervision and resolution.  Part of this regulatory mandate includes the implementation of Basel III in the EU. Here, our guiding principle is to ensure that the EU adheres to the global standards, as this is crucial in order to achieve a well-functioning cross-border banking market. Another strategic priority for the EBA is to provide efficient methodologies and tools for supervisory convergence and stress-testing. Our third strategic priority area is the move towards an integrated EU data-hub and streamlined reporting framework. The collection, dissemination and analysis of banking data will be carried out thanks to the finalisation of the ambitious and comprehensive European Centralised Infrastructure for Supervisory Data (EUCLID) data project.

Anti-money laundering has become a real priority for the EU and the EBA and I am glad to see that this is also a key priority for the new Commission. In addition, there is a need to better understand and prepare financial institutions and regulations for the fundamental changes driven by financial innovation and the increasing focus on environmental, social and governance issues. Another key strategic objective is to promote an operational framework for bank resolution. Finally, Brexit and the UK’s decision to withdraw from the EU has been a big challenge for the EBA. Going forward, our efforts will focus more on the post-Brexit phase, with the aim of facilitating the cooperation and exchange of information between supervisory and resolution authorities.

How do you see the cooperation with national competent authorities? 

We have fostered a strong and fruitful cooperation with EU institutions and national competent authorities, both at a technical level as well as in the decision-making bodies, mainly our Board of Supervisors, where all the policy decisions are taken. The input to our work comes from the effective interaction between our experts, and the active involvement of many experts from national and competent authorities through the different working groups.  The high standard of quality of our work and the actual delivery of our objectives in the day-to-day application of our products would not be possible without the close collaboration of all parties.

And how do you see the relationship with the European Commission? 

We cooperate and coordinate our work with the EU Commission on a continuous basis. The Commission sits at the table of our governance bodies, the Board of Supervisors and the Management Board. Commission representatives provide valuable input to the EBA work through our Standing Committees and the Joint Committee, the latter also bringing together the other European Supervisory Authorities. In addition to that, on a more informal basis, we have regular exchanges, mainly regarding our current mandates. Over the years, we have built a strong relationship of trust, which has helped to foster the European interest in banking regulation and supervision.

How is the EBA preparing for the new rules for secure payments that came into application in September?

When the revised EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2) was published in November 2015, it stipulated that payment authentication and payment account access would be subject to stricter authentication requirements from 14 September 2019 onwards. The EBA, subsequently, developed detailed technical standards in support of these provisions, responded to a number of industry queries through its Q&A tools, and set up a working group to support the industry. In early 2019, the EBA became aware of issues in some EU Member States with regard to market readiness, primarily by e-merchants, to comply with the authentication requirements by the September deadline. To avoid unintended negative consequences, the EBA issued an Opinion in June 2019, in which it granted limited additional time to national competent authorities in the enforcement of the rules. The EBA granted this supervisory flexibility on the condition that the industry sets up plans to migrate to strong customer authentication and executes them in an expedited manner. The EBA also stated that it is desirable to arrive at a consistent deadline across the EU, by which point these migration plans should be executed. This coordination among authorities will contribute to a smooth rollout of the new requirements across the EU.