Positive signal for Germany as a financial centre

20 January 2004 – “Locating the committee of insurance supervisors in Frankfurt am Main is a positive signal for Germany as a financial centre”, said Manfred Weber, Association of German Banks chief executive officer and member of the board of directors, of today’s decision by the EU finance ministers on the site of the Lamfalussy Level 3 committees. There will be three of these bodies in total: the committee of securities regulators has already been established in Paris, the committee of banking supervisors will be based in London and the committee of insurance supervisors in Frankfurt.

“Naturally, we would have preferred the banking supervisors’ committee to come to Frankfurt, the city that houses the headquarters of the European Central Bank”, continued Weber. “But the committee of insurance supervisors is also a significant gain for the German financial market.” That Germany would be selected as the location for one of the committees could not, after all, have been taken for granted in a European Union soon to comprise 25 member states.

“The important point now”, stressed Weber, “is to have good co-operation between all the committees and banks, exchanges, insurance companies and the supervisory authorities.” He added that setting up the committees was a major step towards the creation of a single financial market and was in the interests of the whole European banking community.