GFS LinkedIn
GFS Facebook
GFS Twitter
GFS RSS feed

The Big Interview: Sharon Bowles, Arlene McCarthy and Vicky Ford

Wednesday 28 April 2010 - by Nicola York

 Three of the UK's MEPs who sit on the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee set out their hopes and fears for the financial sector in 2010 and talk about their priorities for the Committee

Chair of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee Sharon Bowles has a lot of issues on her plate right now.

The most high profile issue is the creation of the new European supervisory architecture and she says the committee is under "a lot of pressure from all sources" to get it done.

She says: “There is quite a lot of ambition on the Parliament side to push this as far as we can to solve the cross-borders situation and to make sure that we have even-handed rules.”

Two other aspects also taking a lot of her attention at the moment are the alternative investment fund managers’ directive and the capital requirements directive. On the AIFM issues, Bowles admits she is still quite concerned about the third country aspect and whether it will be open enough. Most of the rest, she is optimistic, can be resolved.

Bowles was interviewed by GFS before UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown stepped in, asking for more time to debate the rules. In the end, the debate in the European Parliament went ahead without a recommendation from the Economic and Financial Affairs Council.



On capital requirements, she says it feels like “a never-ending story”.

“I think the most worrying aspect is to do with the timing and quantitative impact assessments that are only just being completed by the Basel Committee, which do seem to show that much higher capital is going to result from this than was previously thought, and I have to question the implementation date on that basis.

“Do we need this now? And looking forward to capital requirements directive IV where the Commission has just started the consultation, then I certainly see no reason to rush. There are even parts of CRD III that one might wish to query.”

Looking ahead, the timetable is equally packed with directives looking at derivatives, crisis resolution and a review of the market abuse directive.

Bowles acquiesces that there is a big danger of the Econ Committee trying to take on too much and says it is already experiencing timetabling issues because there is not enough time for all the discussion and hearings necessary.


Article pages: |   1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |



WHAT DO YOU THINK?
 
Name:
   
Email:
   
Comment:
   
Post as Anonymous
  Display name
   
Please, enter security code
   
 

No comments yet.
INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
What corruption really costs
Heidi Lawson, partner at Chadbourne & Parke LLP, looks at the impact of compliance and corruption on a company's value.

STRAW POLL

Will markets in 2012 have a tougher time than 2011?

Yes

No

Don't know

View results

FIND A REGION world regions