Banking Union and Brexit: the challenge of geography

The decision-making governance of the European Central Bank (ECB) has evolved with the creation of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). The Supervisory Board is nested in a semi-rigid institutional setting of the ECB, where different decision-making procedures steer the operations and strategies of the SSM. The legal framework of ECB decision-making and its legal nature are contextualised in EU secondary law and SSM law, including a comparison with the European Commission’s decision-making procedures. The evolutions observed are all geared towards ensuring efficiency in the ECB decision-making governance, in a context of inflation and diversity of supervisory decisions. Thus, decision-making arrangements cover not only a standard non-objection procedure from the Governing Council but also a second path with a delegation framework. This alternative route, operational since 2017, allows the delegation of decision-making powers to ECB’s management for specific types of supervisory decisions. Finally, the ECB’s responsibility for the oversight over the functioning of the system is essential in the SSM governance. The Chapter looks at diverse supervisory actions and tools the ECB uses in its relationships with the National Competent Authorities to ensure an effective and consistent functioning of the SSM.