Updated 17/10/2024
In force

Initial Legal Act
Amendments
There is currently no Level 2 legal act based on or specifying Article 4.
Supervisory Manual
Published: 08/02/2024
Art. 4
Letter (QZ-015)
Published: 07/11/2023
Art. 4(1)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 7 January 2019 on dividend distribution policies (ECB/2019/1)
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 28 January 2015 on dividend distribution policies (ECB/2015/2)
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 28 December 2017 on dividend distribution policies (ECB/2017/44)
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 13 December 2016 on dividend distribution policies (ECB/2016/44)
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 17 December 2015 on dividend distribution policies (ECB/2015/49)
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 17 January 2020 on dividend distribution policies (ECB/2020/1)2020/C 30/01
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 23 July 2021 repealing Recommendation ECB/2020/62 (ECB/2021/31) 2021/C 303/01
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 27 July 2020 on dividend distributions during the COVID-19 pandemic and repealing Recommendation ECB/2020/19 (ECB/2020/35) 2020/C 251/01
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 27 March 2020 on dividend distributions during the COVID-19 pandemic and repealing Recommendation ECB/2020/1 (ECB/2020/19) 2020/C 102 I/01
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 15 December 2020 on dividend distributions during the COVID-19 pandemic and repealing Recommendation ECB/2020/35 (ECB/2020/62) 2020/C 437/01
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 4 April 2017 on common specifications for the exercise of some options and discretions available in Union law by national competent authorities in relation to less significant institutions (ECB/2017/10)
Art. 4(3)
Recommendation of the European Central Bank of 25 March 2022 amending Recommendation ECB/2017/10 on common specifications for the exercise of some options and discretions available in Union law by national competent authorities in relation to less significant institutions (ECB/2022/13) 2022/C 142/01
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2015/2
Published: 13/02/2015
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2015/49
Published: 30/12/2015
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2016/44
Published: 23/12/2016
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2017/10
Published: 03/11/2016
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2017/44
Published: 11/01/2018
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2019/1
Published: 11/01/2019
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2020/1
Published: 29/01/2020
Art. 4(3)
ECB/2021/00
Published: 28/06/2021
Art. 4(3)
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Article 4 - Tasks conferred on the ECB

Article 4

Tasks conferred on the ECB

1.   Within the framework of Article 6, the ECB shall, in accordance with paragraph 3 of this Article, be exclusively competent to carry out, for prudential supervisory purposes, the following tasks in relation to all credit institutions established in the participating Member States:

(a)

to authorise credit institutions and to withdraw authorisations of credit institutions subject to Article 14;

(b)

for credit institutions established in a participating Member State, which wish to establish a branch or provide cross-border services in a non participating Member State, to carry out the tasks which the competent authority of the home Member State shall have under the relevant Union law;

(c)

to assess notifications of the acquisition and disposal of qualifying holdings in credit institutions, except in the case of a bank resolution, and subject to Article 15;

(d)

to ensure compliance with the acts referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 4(3), which impose prudential requirements on credit institutions in the areas of own funds requirements, securitisation, large exposure limits, liquidity, leverage, and reporting and public disclosure of information on those matters;

(e)

to ensure compliance with the acts referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 4(3), which impose requirements on credit institutions to have in place robust governance arrangements, including the fit and proper requirements for the persons responsible for the management of credit institutions, risk management processes, internal control mechanisms, remuneration policies and practices and effective internal capital adequacy assessment processes, including Internal Ratings Based models;

(f)

to carry out supervisory reviews, including where appropriate in coordination with EBA, stress tests and their possible publication, in order to determine whether the arrangements, strategies, processes and mechanisms put in place by credit institutions and the own funds held by these institutions ensure a sound management and coverage of their risks, and on the basis of that supervisory review to impose on credit institutions specific additional own funds requirements, specific publication requirements, specific liquidity requirements and other measures, where specifically made available to competent authorities by relevant Union law;

(g)

to carry out supervision on a consolidated basis over credit institutions’ parents established in one of the participating Member States, including over financial holding companies and mixed financial holding companies, and to participate in supervision on a consolidated basis, including in colleges of supervisors without prejudice to the participation of national competent authorities in those colleges as observers, in relation to parents not established in one of the participating Member State;

(h)

to participate in supplementary supervision of a financial conglomerate in relation to the credit institutions included in it and to assume the tasks of a coordinator where the ECB is appointed as the coordinator for a financial conglomerate in accordance with the criteria set out in relevant Union law;

(i)

to carry out supervisory tasks in relation to recovery plans, and early intervention where a credit institution or group in relation to which the ECB is the consolidating supervisor, does not meet or is likely to breach the applicable prudential requirements, and, only in the cases explicitly stipulated by relevant Union law for competent authorities, structural changes required from credit institutions to prevent financial stress or failure, excluding any resolution powers.

2.   For credit institutions established in a non-participating Member State, which establish a branch or provide cross-border services in a participating Member State, the ECB shall carry out, within the scope of paragraph 1, the tasks for which the national competent authorities are competent in accordance with relevant Union law.

3.   For the purpose of carrying out the tasks conferred on it by this Regulation, and with the objective of ensuring high standards of supervision, the ECB shall apply all relevant Union law, and where this Union law is composed of Directives, the national legislation transposing those Directives. Where the relevant Union law is composed of Regulations and where currently those Regulations explicitly grant options for Member States, the ECB shall apply also the national legislation exercising those options.

To that effect, the ECB shall adopt guidelines and recommendations, and take decisions subject to and in compliance with the relevant Union law and in particular any legislative and non-legislative act, including those referred to in Articles 290 and 291 TFEU. It shall in particular be subject to binding regulatory and implementing technical standards developed by EBA and adopted by the Commission in accordance with Article 10 to 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, to Article 16 of that Regulation, and to the provisions of that Regulation on the European supervisory handbook developed by EBA in accordance with that Regulation. The ECB may also adopt regulations only to the extent necessary to organise or specify the arrangements for the carrying out of the tasks conferred on it by this Regulation.

Before adopting a regulation, the ECB shall conduct open public consultations and analyse the potential related costs and benefits, unless such consultations and analyses are disproportionate in relation to the scope and impact of the regulations concerned or in relation to the particular urgency of the matter, in which case the ECB shall justify that urgency.

Where necessary the ECB shall contribute in any participating role to the development of draft regulatory technical standards or implementing technical standards by EBA in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 or shall draw the attention of EBA to a potential need to submit to the Commission draft standards amending existing regulatory or implementing technical standards.