Supervision

According to Article 55A of its Statute, the Bank of Greece exercises prudential supervision over credit institutions, certain financial institutions, insurance and reinsurance undertakings, insurance distributors, as well as financial institutions under liquidation.

Τhe supervision exercised by the Bank of Greece is geared towards the stability and the smooth functioning of the financial system, as well as transparency in transaction procedures, terms and conditions.

Supervisory tasks

The supervisory tasks of the Bank of Greece include:

The supervisory tasks of the Bank of Greece include:

  • monitoring, on an ongoing basis, compliance with the regulatory framework on capital adequacy, liquidity and risk concentration, and cooperating with the European Central Bank in the context of the Single Supervisory Mechanism;
  • evaluating applications for licensing and other authorisations, and examining fulfilment of the relevant requirements;
  • examining compliance by supervised entities, on a solo and a consolidated basis, with the regulatory framework governing their operation;
  • assessing supervised entities’ governance system (management, internal control, risk management, compliance, including the actuarial function of insurance and reinsurance undertakings);
  • monitoring compliance with legislation on pre-contractual customer information, as well as on transparency in the procedures, terms and conditions of transactions, excluding matters of any abusive practices, for which the Bank of Greece has no authority under the legislation in force;
  • conducting on-site inspections of supervised institutions;
    Bank of Greece is competent for the on-site inspections of all the supervised institutions, which constitute an integral part of the overall supervisory procedure.
    The on-site inspections aim at assessing the implementation of the supervisory and regulatory framework. They are conducted independently, however in close cooperation with the Supervision. The on-site inspections, based on inspection techniques examine, among others, various risks, internal control systems, business models and corporate governance issues.
    The on-site inspections apply a risk-based approach adhering to the principle of proportionality and aiming at presenting an intrusive overview of the supervised institution’s status at a given point-in-time, but in parallel in a forward looking perspective. The inspections are conducted on a periodic or ad hoc basis, they have a predefined scope and timeline and are carried out in the premises of the inspected institution or related legal entity.
    The on-site inspections planning is defined on an annual basis in agreement with: a) the competent Divisions of the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the Supervised Institutions Inspection Department with reference to significant credit institutions and b) the competent Departments of Bank of Greece  with reference to the remaining supervised institutions. 
  • monitoring compliance of supervised institutions with the obligations arising from the legal framework for the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; 
  • controlling and supervising the special liquidation of supervised entities following the withdrawal of their authorisation and the appointment of a special liquidator; and  
  • the assessment of requests, submitted by credit institutions established in Greece, in order to grant permission to issue covered bond programs, as well as the public supervision of the said covered bonds.
  • imposing administrative sanctions and other administrative measures for breaches of the legislative and regulatory framework within its scope of supervision.

Single Supervisory Mechanism

The Single Supervisory Mechanism was established by Council Regulation (EU) 1024/2013 conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank (ECB) concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (the SSM Regulation).

The Single Supervisory Mechanism was established by Council Regulation (EU) 1024/2013 conferring specific tasks on the European Central Bank (ECB) concerning policies relating to the prudential supervision of credit institutions (the SSM Regulation). Its operational framework was specified by Regulation (EU) 468/2014 of the European Central Bank establishing the framework for cooperation within the Single Monitoring Mechanism between the ECB and national competent authorities and with national designated authorities (SSM Framework Regulation).

All euro area countries participate automatically in the SSM. EU Member States outside the euro area can choose to participate. To do so, their national supervisors enter into “close cooperation” with the ECB.

Within the SSM, the ECB directly supervises all euro area credit institutions that are classified as significant (significant institutions or SIs). The national supervisors (national competent authorities, NCAs) conduct the direct supervision of less significant institutions (LSIs), subject to the oversight of the ECB..

The classification of credit institutions into significant and less significant is based on the criteria laid down in Regulation (EU) 1024/2013 and further specified in Regulation (EU) 468/2014.

Accordingly, the ECB directly supervises the following significant credit institutions authorised in Greece:

  • Alpha Bank S.A.
  • Eurobank Ergasias S.A.
  • National Bank of Greece S.A.
  • Piraeus Bank S.A.

 Content Editor

Supervisory decision-making bodies of the Bank of Greece

  • Executive Committee
  • Credit and Insurance Committee

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