Liberté de circulation des capitaux et exigences prudentielles : le délicat équilibre du contrôle des fusions dans le secteur financier

摘要

Freedom of capital and prudential requirements : the fine tuning of mergers control in the financial sector Since the end of the 1990s, the European Commission has sought to impose that any refusal by a competent authority of a change of control over a bank be justifiable only by prudential considerations. Following an obvious case of bank protectionism in Italy in 2005, the Commission has put forward a directive regulating changes in shareholdings and control over entities belonging to the financial sector (the directive is further applicable to credit institutions, investment firms, and insurance companies). This directive was adopted in 2007 and will enter into force at the beginning of 2009. This directive, which contributes to the construction of the European common financial services market, imposes on the competent authorities the strict and restrictive criteria upon which any decision must be founded. This article provides an analysis of the provisions of the directive as regards the proper balance of free movement of capital in the common market and the responsibilities of the prudential authorities. JEL classification : F36, G28, G34