Agencies in European Banking

Through a brief overview of crisis-driven reforms of Economic and Monetary Union governance, the rationale and progress of agencification therein and an outline of agencies’ basic functions, this chapter details the motivation for studying agencies in European banking and their mode of governance. The chapter introduces the book’s main research question, objectives and methodology design. Bridging a precise lacuna in relevant scholarship, this short volume engages in a systematic, exploratory research of European agencies with competencies in prudential policy-making in order to shed light on the relationship dynamics of National Competent Authorities (NCAs) as part of these regulatory networks. By zooming in on NCAs’ interplay the book determines key drivers of agency governance, offering new knowledge on the actual practices of banking regulation and prudential policy-making.

This chapter details the progress of agencification within the European financial and banking sector. It explains how agencies have come to replace pre-existent regulatory entities (networks and committees) within a policy field otherwise resilient to centralization and further delegation of powers to the EU level. It then proceeds to explore the multi-level character of agency governance, through the lens of political economy and bureaucratic politics. By employing a “bottom up” approach the chapter attempts to explain the background to National Competent Authorities’ diverging policy preferences, as well as various modes of coordination.