Article 2

Definitions

For the purposes of this Directive:

1. "credit institution" shall mean a credit institution within the meaning of the second subparagraph of Article 1(1) of Directive 2000/12/EC;

2. "insurance undertaking" shall mean an insurance undertaking within the meaning of Article 6 of Directive 73/239/EEC, Article 6 of Directive 79/267/EEC or Article 1(b) of Directive 98/78/EC;

3. "investment firm" shall mean an investment firm within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Directive 93/22/EEC, including the undertakings referred to in Article 2(4) of Directive 93/6/EEC;

4. "regulated entity" shall mean a credit institution, an insurance undertaking or an investment firm;

5. "asset management company" shall mean a management company within the meaning of Article 1a(2) of Council Directive 85/611/EEC of 20 December 1985 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)(14), as well as an undertaking the registered office of which is outside the Community and which would require authorisation in accordance with Article 5(1) of that Directive if it had its registered office within the Community;

6. "reinsurance undertaking" shall mean a reinsurance undertaking within the meaning of Article 1(c) of Directive 98/78/EC;

7. "sectoral rules" shall mean the Community legislation relating to the prudential supervision of regulated entities, in particular laid down in Directives 73/239/EEC, 79/267/EEC, 98/78/EC, 93/6/EEC, 93/22/EEC and 2000/12/EC;

8. "financial sector" shall mean a sector composed of one or more of the following entities:

(a) a credit institution, a financial institution or an ancillary banking services undertaking within the meaning of Article 1(5) and (23) of Directive 2000/12/EC (the banking sector);

(b) an insurance undertaking, a reinsurance undertaking or an insurance holding company within the meaning of Article 1(i) of Directive 98/78/EC (the insurance sector);

(c) an investment firm or a financial institution within the meaning of Article 2(7) of Directive 93/6/EEC (the investment services sector);

(d) a mixed financial holding company;

9. "parent undertaking" shall mean a parent undertaking within the meaning of Article 1 of Seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC of 13 June 1983 on consolidated accounts(15) and any undertaking which, in the opinion of the competent authorities, effectively exercises a dominant influence over another undertaking;

10. "subsidiary undertaking" shall mean a subsidiary undertaking within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 83/349/EEC and any undertaking over which, in the opinion of the competent authorities, a parent undertaking effectively exercises a dominant influence; all subsidiary undertakings of subsidiary undertakings shall also be considered as subsidiary undertakings of the parent undertaking;

11. "participation" shall mean a participation within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 17 of Fourth Council Directive 78/660/EEC of 25 July 1978 on the annual accounts of certain types of companies(16), or the direct or indirect ownership of 20 % or more of the voting rights or capital of an undertaking;

12. "group" shall mean a group of undertakings, which consists of a parent undertaking, its subsidiaries and the entities in which the parent undertaking or its subsidiaries hold a participation, as well as undertakings linked to each other by a relationship within the meaning of Article 12(1) of Directive 83/349/EEC;

13. "close links" shall mean a situation in which two or more natural or legal persons are linked by:

(a) "participation", which shall mean the ownership, direct or by way of control, of 20 % or more of the voting rights or capital of an undertaking; or

(b) "control", which shall mean the relationship between a parent undertaking and a subsidiary, in all the cases referred to in Article 1(1) and (2) of Directive 83/349/EEC, or a similar relationship between any natural or legal person and an undertaking; any subsidiary undertaking of a subsidiary undertaking shall also be considered a subsidiary of the parent undertaking which is at the head of those undertakings.

A situation in which two or more natural or legal persons are permanently linked to one and the same person by a control relationship shall also be regarded as constituting a close link between such persons;

14. "financial conglomerate" shall mean a group which meets, subject to Article 3, the following conditions:

(a) a regulated entity within the meaning of Article 1 is at the head of the group or at least one of the subsidiaries in the group is a regulated entity within the meaning of Article 1;

(b) where there is a regulated entity within the meaning of Article 1 at the head of the group, it is either a parent undertaking of an entity in the financial sector, an entity which holds a participation in an entity in the financial sector, or an entity linked with an entity in the financial sector by a relationship within the meaning of Article 12(1) of Directive 83/349/EEC;

(c) where there is no regulated entity within the meaning of Article 1 at the head of the group, the group's activities mainly occur in the financial sector within the meaning of Article 3(1);

(d) at least one of the entities in the group is within the insurance sector and at least one is within the banking or investment services sector;

(e) the consolidated and/or aggregated activities of the entities in the group within the insurance sector and the consolidated and/or aggregated activities of the entities within the banking and investment services sector are both significant within the meaning of Article 3(2) or (3).

Any subgroup of a group within the meaning of point 12 which meets the criteria in this point shall be considered as a financial conglomerate;

15. "mixed financial holding company" shall mean a parent undertaking, other than a regulated entity, which together with its subsidiaries, at least one of which is a regulated entity which has its head office in the Community, and other entities, constitutes a financial conglomerate;

16. "competent authorities" shall mean the national authorities of the Member States which are empowered by law or regulation to supervise credit institutions, and/or insurance undertakings and/or investment firms whether on an individual or a group-wide basis;

17. "relevant competent authorities" shall mean:

(a) Member States' competent authorities responsible for the sectoral group-wide supervision of any of the regulated entities in a financial conglomerate;

(b) the coordinator appointed in accordance with Article 10 if different from the authorities referred to in (a);

(c) other competent authorities concerned, where relevant, in the opinion of the authorities referred to in (a) and (b); this opinion shall especially take into account the market share of the regulated entities of the conglomerate in other Member States, in particular if it exceeds 5 %, and the importance in the conglomerate of any regulated entity established in another Member State;

18. "intra-group transactions" shall mean all transactions by which regulated entities within a financial conglomerate rely either directly or indirectly upon other undertakings within the same group or upon any natural or legal person linked to the undertakings within that group by "close links", for the fulfilment of an obligation, whether or not contractual, and whether or not for payment;

19. "risk concentration" shall mean all exposures with a loss potential borne by entities within a financial conglomerate, which are large enough to threaten the solvency or the financial position in general of the regulated entities in the financial conglomerate; such exposures may be caused by counterparty risk/credit risk, investment risk, insurance risk, market risk, other risks, or a combination or interaction of these risks.