1.   The Authority shall contribute to promoting and monitoring the efficient, effective and consistent functioning of the colleges of supervisors referred to in Directive 2006/48/EC and foster the coherence of the application of Union law among the colleges of supervisors. With the objective of converging supervisory best practices, staff from the Authority shall be able to participate in the activities of the colleges of supervisors, including on-site examinations, carried out jointly by two or more competent authorities.

2.   The Authority shall lead in ensuring a consistent and coherent functioning of colleges of supervisors for cross-border institutions across the Union, taking account of the systemic risk posed by financial institutions referred to in Article 23.

For the purpose of this paragraph and of paragraph 1 of this Article, the Authority shall be considered a ‘competent authority’ within the meaning of the relevant legislation.

The Authority may:

(a)	collect and share all relevant information in cooperation with the competent authorities in order to facilitate the work of the college and establish and manage a central system to make such information accessible to the competent authorities in the college;

(b)

initiate and coordinate Union-wide stress tests in accordance with Article 32 to assess the resilience of financial institutions, in particular the systemic risk posed by financial institutions as referred to in Article 23, to adverse market developments, and evaluate the potential for systemic risk to increase in situations of stress, ensuring that a consistent methodology is applied at the national level to such tests and, where appropriate, address a recommendation to the competent authority to correct issues identified in the stress test;

(c)	promote effective and efficient supervisory activities, including evaluating the risks to which financial institutions are or might be exposed as determined under the supervisory review process or in stress situations;

(d)	oversee, in accordance with the tasks and powers specified in this Regulation, the tasks carried out by the competent authorities; and

(e)

request further deliberations of a college in any cases where it considers that the decision would result in an incorrect application of Union law or would not contribute to the objective of convergence of supervisory practices. It may also require the consolidating supervisor to schedule a meeting of the college or add a point to the agenda of a meeting.

3.   The Authority may develop draft regulatory and implementing technical standards to ensure uniform conditions of application with respect to the provisions regarding the operational functioning of colleges of supervisors and issue guidelines and recommendations adopted pursuant to Article 16 to promote convergence in supervisory functioning and best practices adopted by the colleges of supervisors.

4.   The Authority shall have a legally binding mediation role to resolve disputes between competent authorities in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 19. The Authority may take supervisory decisions directly applicable to the institution concerned in accordance with Article 19.