EU banking system. European system of central banks

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Introduction

1.2 Classification of banks

3.1 English banking system

3.2 Russian banking system

3.3 Similarities and differences between the described banking systems

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Banks are a very ancient economic invention. They arose in ancient times as firms specializing in providing a special kind of services: storing savings and providing loans. Over time, banks also mastered activities related to organizing payments for purchased and sold goods within countries and on the world market. This made it possible to speed up payments and increase their reliability, which had a positive impact on the development of trade and the global economy as a whole.

Now they constitute an integral feature of the modern monetary economy; their activities are closely related to the needs of reproduction. Being at the center of economic life, serving the interests of producers, banks are the link between industry and trade, agriculture and the population. At the same time, banks, by conducting cash settlements, lending to the economy, and acting as intermediaries in the redistribution of capital, significantly increase the overall efficiency of production and contribute to the growth of social labor productivity.

The role of the banking system in a modern market economy is enormous. All changes occurring in it affect the entire economy in one way or another. The correct organization of the banking system is necessary for the normal functioning of the country's economy.

The purpose of this course work is to study the European banking system, the features of its formation, its role in the global economy, as well as current trends in the development of the European banking system.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to identify and solve the following tasks:

Study the essence and structure of the banking system as a whole;

Consider the features of the formation of the European banking system;

Analyze the step-by-step development of the European banking system;

Identify current trends in the development of the European banking system;

Compare the banking system with the systems of leading countries.

The first chapter of this course work will examine the main theoretical aspects related to the banking system, its structure and its activities.

In the second: The European banking system: features of formation and main development trends.

In the third: a comparison of the European banking system with the systems of leading countries in the economy.

The subject of this course work is the European banking system. Currently, the banking systems of the leading European countries occupy a particularly important place in the global economic arena. During the economic crisis, most of which came from the United States, it is Europe that is the connecting link in the economy of the near future. In the course of writing this course work, the main trends in the further development of the European banking system will be identified.

1. Theoretical aspects of the banking system

1.1 Economic essence and functions of the bank

Bank is a financial enterprise that concentrates temporarily available funds (deposits), provides them for temporary use in the form of loans (loans, advances), mediates in mutual payments and settlements between enterprises, institutions or individuals, regulates money circulation in the country, including release (issue) of new money.

Banks are a very ancient economic invention. It is believed that the first banks appeared in the Ancient East in the 8th century. BC e., when the level of people's well-being allowed them to save while maintaining an acceptable level of current consumption. Then Ancient Greece took up this baton. The most revered temples began to accept citizens' money for safekeeping during wars, since the warring parties considered it unacceptable to plunder sanctuaries.

The eyes of the entrepreneurs of that time - artisans and merchants - turned towards money storage facilities. This is how the interests of two most important participants in the economy intersected - a businessman in need of capital to expand his activities and the owner of savings. Banks owe their birth to this.

So, banks arose in ancient times as firms specializing in providing a special type of service: storing savings and providing loans. Over time, banks also mastered activities related to organizing payments for goods purchased and sold within the country and on the world market. This made it possible to speed up payments and increase their reliability, which had a positive impact on the development of trade and the global economy as a whole.

1.2 Classification of banks

In practice, there is a variety of banks. Depending on one or another criterion, they can be classified as follows.

According to the form of ownership, state, joint-stock, cooperative, private and mixed banks are distinguished. State ownership most often refers to central banks.

Commercial banks in a market economy are most often private (according to international terminology, the concept of a private bank refers not only and not so much to banks owned by individuals, but to joint-stock and cooperative banks). In a centralized economic system, commercial banks are usually state-owned.

According to the legislation of most countries, foreign banks are allowed to operate in national banking markets.

In a number of countries (for example, France), the activities of foreign banks are not limited. In Canada and other countries, a certain corridor is introduced for foreign banks, within the quantitative limits of which they can expand their operations. In Russia, the size of the total capital of foreign banks is not limited.

According to the legal form of organization, banks can be divided into open and closed limited liability companies.

According to their functional purpose, banks can be divided into issuing, deposit and commercial.

All central banks are emissive; their classic operation is the release of cash into circulation. They are not busy serving individual clients. Deposit banks specialize in accumulating savings of the population. The deposit operation (acceptance of deposits) serves as the main operation for these banks. Commercial banks carry out all operations permitted by banking legislation. Commercial banks form the core of the second tier of the banking system of a market economy.

Based on the nature of the operations they perform, banks are divided into universal and specialized. Universal banks can provide the full range of banking services and serve, regardless of the focus of their activities, both individuals and legal entities. Among the specialized banks are banks specializing in foreign economic operations, mortgage banks, etc. Unlike universal banks, specialized banks specialize in certain types of operations.

World experience shows that banks can develop both along the lines of universality and along the line of specialization. In both cases, banks can make good profits, and only clients can answer the question of which line of development will be preferable.

Classification is also possible according to the industries served by banks. Banks can be diversified and serve primarily one of the industries or sub-sectors (aviation, automotive, petrochemical industry, agriculture).

Based on the number of branches, banks can be divided into non-branch and multi-branch.

By service area, banks are divided into regional, interregional, national, and international. Regional banks that primarily serve a local region also include municipal banks.

Based on the scale of activity, we can distinguish small, medium, and large banks, banking consortiums, and interbank associations. Small credit institutions operate in a number of countries. These include savings and loan banks, construction and savings banks, credit cooperatives, etc.

The presence of credit institutions with small authorized capital within commercial banks does not strengthen the position of the banking system as a whole. Practice shows that banks with a small capital base have more problems with liquidity and increasing the volume of transactions. However, this does not mean that small banks should not work in the market. On the contrary, world practice shows that small banks can successfully work with small production structures (which is avoided by large banks that prefer to work with medium and large clients). Small banks, created “jointly” by small commodity producers, are able to accumulate resources where banks with a large capital base do not penetrate, and often provide more financial support in the development of regions, small and medium-sized businesses.

Special purpose banks and credit organizations (not banks) also operate in the banking system.

Special purpose banks carry out basic operations at the direction of executive authorities, are authorized banks, and finance certain government programs. Along with these operations, authorized banks also perform other operations determined by their status as a bank.

Some credit institutions do not have the status of a bank; they carry out only individual operations, and therefore do not receive a license from the central bank to carry out overall banking activities.

The elements of the organizational block of the banking system also include banking infrastructure. It includes various types of enterprises, agencies and services that ensure the functioning of banks. Banking infrastructure includes information, methodological, scientific, personnel support, as well as means of communication, communication, etc.

Let's start with information support. In market conditions, banks, first of all, need extensive and timely information about the state of the economy, its industries, groups of enterprises, and individual enterprises that apply to the bank for loans and other products. To assess the creditworthiness of clients, the economic and business market, consulting enterprises and the public, and managing client property, banks need detailed information.

With strong competition, as well as an economic crisis, instability of the finances of the state and enterprises, information support is a natural requirement - without such support, banks cannot finance various kinds of projects without damaging their capital and the capital of their clients. The availability of information and its analysis become a mandatory attribute technologies for providing banking services.

The information required by banks is usually provided by special agencies - credit bureaus; in a number of countries, the information that banks need can be obtained from numerous directories (trade and industrial registers), magazines, special operational publications, and can also be requested from the central bank, where A client file is maintained.

A necessary component of the banking infrastructure is methodological support.

The peculiarity of Russian commercial banks is that they often carry out operations based on their own methods and regulations.

A not fully developed block of banking infrastructure is scientific support. This applies to both the functioning of the banking system as a whole and individual banks.

Not every commercial bank has an analytical unit that conducts research on the banking services market and the efficiency of banking operations. The most important element of banking infrastructure is staffing.

1.3 Concept and structure of the banking system

The role of the banking system in a modern market economy is enormous. And all the changes that occur in it, in one way or another, affect the entire economy. The correct organization of the banking system is necessary for the normal functioning of the country's economy.

The stability of the banking system is of utmost importance for the effective implementation of monetary policy. The banking sector is the channel through which impulses of monetary regulation are transmitted to the entire economy. It is the need to study such an important component of a market economy that determines the relevance of this topic.

The banking system is a holistic entity that ensures its sustainable development. As a collection of elements, it can be represented in the form of the following blocks and their elements:

I. Fundamental block:

Bank as a monetary institution;

Banking rules.

II. Organizational block:

Types of banks and non-bank credit organizations;

Fundamentals of banking;

Organizational basis of banking activities;

Banking infrastructure.

III. Regulating block:

State regulation of banking activities;

Banking legislation;

Central Bank Regulations;

Instructional materials developed by commercial banks to regulate their activities.

The presented blocks and elements of the banking system form a unity, reflecting the specifics of the whole, and act as carriers of its properties. The banking system has a number of features:

· includes elements subordinated to a certain unity that meet common goals;

· has specific properties;

· acts as a single unit;

· is dynamic;

· acts as a “closed” type system;

· has the character of a self-regulating system;

· is a managed system.

The banking system, first of all, is not a random variety, a random collection of elements. It cannot mechanically include subjects who also operate in the market, but are subordinated to other goals. For example, the market operates a trading system, a system of transport and communications, executive and legislative powers, and law enforcement agencies. Each of these and other systems has its own special purpose. They touch each other, but have different tasks. The banking system cannot include production or agricultural units with other types of activities.

The banking system is specific; it expresses properties that are characteristic of itself in contrast to other systems operating in the national economy. The specifics of the banking system are determined by its elements and the relationships that develop between them.

When the banking system is considered, it is, first of all, meant that it includes banks as an element, which, as monetary institutions, give “color” to the banking system.

At the same time, this should not be understood to mean that the essence of the banking system is the sum of the essence of its elements. The essence of the banking system is not an arithmetic operation, but a penetration into a new broader essence, covering the essence of not only individual elements, but also their interrelationships.

The essence of the banking system is addressed not only to the essence of the individual constituent elements, but also to their interaction.

It follows from this that the essence of the banking system affects the composition and essence of its elements.

Practice knows several types of banking system:

· distribution centralized banking system;

· market banking system;

· transition system.

In contrast to the distribution system, the market-type banking system is characterized by the absence of a state monopoly on banks. Each subject of reproduction of the most diverse forms of ownership (not only state) can form a bank. In a market economy, there is a plurality of banks with a decentralized management system. The issuing and credit functions are divided between them. The issue is concentrated in the central bank, lending to enterprises and the population is carried out by various business banks: commercial, investment, innovation, mortgage, savings, etc. Business banks are not responsible for the obligations of the state, just as the state is not responsible for the obligations of business banks; business banks are subject to their board, the decision of the shareholders, and not to the administrative body of the state.

2. Modern European banking system

2.1 Evolution and features of the formation of the European banking system

In the Middle Ages, novice bankers and money changers had to enjoy a certain degree of public trust. Therefore, they were usually required to obtain permission from the government to carry on their business. In addition, an oath, guarantors or cash collateral were often required.

All this could not continue indefinitely and ultimately led to legislative restrictions on the trade operations of bankers (for example, in Venice, laws of 1374 and 1403), and then to the gradual decline of the money exchange industry in Italy

One of the first public banks was the one in Venice (Banko delta Piaza de Rialto), founded in 1584 to revitalize trade and industry. The bank was run by officials appointed by the government. Soon, however, the inexperienced officials had to be replaced by private bankers, who put up significant collateral to secure their operations. At first, the Venetian bank enjoyed a monopoly, and private individuals were prohibited from opening banking offices. In order to avoid the well-known troubles mentioned above, the bank was prohibited from carrying out any transactions with the invested money. The bank did not pay any interest on deposits.

In 1619, another public bank, the so-called Girobank, was founded in Venice on identical principles. After some time, the first bank was closed and only one giro bank remained. All payments of the two Venetian banks were carried out in a special “bank coin”, which was recognized as the best coin circulating in Venice - dukati d'argento. In relation to it, other money received at the bank's cash desk was counted. The value of this coin was 20% higher than the value the usual coin circulating in Venice.According to historians, the girobank did not always adhere to the rules on the inviolability of deposits; often the board secretly gave large sums to the Venetian government, as a result of which it was necessary to suspend payments in specie twice, in 1640 and 1717.

Similar operations were carried out by the Genoese bank of St. George (Casa di S. Giorgio), which received its final organization in 1407. Its origin dates back to the middle of the 12th century and is due to a number of government loans from private individuals, and in payment of interest and repayment they were provided with the collection of certain taxes and customs duties in Genoa. To collect taxes and make payments, the state's creditors formed special partnerships, which merged in 1407 into one society called the Society of St. George. The leadership of the society, consisting of several members, was completely independent of state power, and the rulers of the republic, upon taking office, swore an oath to preserve inviolable the rights and freedom of this institution. Already in 1408, the society was allowed to accept private deposits, and, as in the Venetian bank, a special conventional coin was accepted as the basis for all payments. Later the Bank of St. Georgia lends large sums to the Genoese government, to cover which she receives the right to manage the colonial lands of Genoa (in particular, the island of Corsica and the city of Caffa) and levy many taxes.

Similar banks also appeared in Barcelona, Milan, Naples and some other European cities. Somewhat later, a number of public banks appeared in the Netherlands, England and Germany. The first bank was founded in Amsterdam in 1609, in Hamburg - in 1619, in Nuremberg in 1621, in Rotterdam - in 1635, in Stockholm - in 1657. Those who made a deposit were given money from the bank a certificate of deposit that he received a certain amount of money, which he can always get back, and in the books of the bank a special account was opened for him, and his deposits and payments to him from other depositors were recorded in the receipt, and the disbursements that were given at his request to him or other investors.

Initially, girobanks were limited to only accepting deposits for storage, for which they charged a certain small fee. But gradually, from their own experience, bank management became convinced that demands for the return of deposits are always limited to only a certain part of them, which can be determined, but never extend to the entire amount. Since a significant part of the deposits lay in banks completely unproductively, in the form of dead capital, the administration came up with the idea of using them for banking operations, mainly for issuing short-term loans.

From then on, banking institutions stopped charging fees for storing deposits, but instead acquired the right to use deposits for lending operations, although at the same time the bank always remained obliged to return time deposits upon expiration, and perpetual deposits upon demand.

Thus, a fundamental change has occurred in banking: banks, which were simple custodians of valuables, become intermediaries between persons with free capital and persons in need of credit. Girobanks are turning into so-called deposit banks.

The benefits of this transformation are obvious. For depositors, it consisted of exemption from fees for storing funds, and for the bank - in receiving income from issuing money as loans. In an effort to expand operations and income, banks began to artificially attract deposits over time, committing to pay a certain percentage on the amounts invested and earning income from the difference between the interest charged on loans and paid on deposits.

The certificate, which was issued by the bank to certify the acceptance of a certain amount of money for storage, and by which it was possible to get this money back, was often used among merchants as a means of payment when making transactions. Gradually, these certificates turned into bank notes. These notes were issued by the bank to bearer. They represented the bank's obligation to pay the bearer the amount of money indicated on the ticket. Depositors, depositing money into the bank's cash desk, received from it bank notes for the amount of the deposit and thus could always claim the entire deposit or part of it by presenting notes for payment.

At first, the value of notes issued by the bank, like previous certificates of deposit, strictly corresponded to the amount of the value of deposits. However, the case in question with the Amsterdam bank suggested that it was possible to issue bank notes for a larger amount than there were deposits in cash. When, as the French approached Amsterdam (during the war between Holland and France, in 1672), the bank gave back the deposits, many coins showed traces of the fire that had occurred in the bank 50 years earlier. This circumstance confirmed that the value of the issued tickets should not necessarily be equal to the value of cash, since, despite the fact that the tickets were issued for the entire amount of money lying in the bank’s storerooms, only part of the tickets were presented to the bank for exchange for money, while the rest remained in treatment, I don’t return to the bank.

That is why it was not necessary to touch some of the money lying around for half a century or more. This discovery prompted banks to issue notes worth more than the specie they had in their storerooms.

This innovation had extremely important consequences for the development of banking. It allowed banks to increase their working capital and thus gave a great impetus to the development of credit. But it also created opportunities for abuse by bank management, which has repeatedly led to monetary crises.

J. Low argued that money should not be metal, but credit, created by banks in accordance with the needs of the economy, in other words, paper: “The use of banks is the best method that has been used so far to increase the amount of money.

Developing his idea, J. Law announced two more principles, the importance of which even today can hardly be overestimated:

firstly, for banks it provided for a policy of credit expansion, i.e. providing loans many times greater than the stock of metallic money stored in the bank;

secondly, he demanded that the bank be state-owned and carry out the economic policy of the state.

J. Law was one of the first to understand the vital role of credit in the development of capitalist production. However, as it became clear later, this also poses a danger to the stability of the banking system.

Another danger, or another aspect of the same danger, is the exploitation of the amazing abilities of banks by the state.

At that time, the word “inflation” did not yet exist, but it was precisely this that threatened not only J. Law’s bank, but also the country as a whole where this bank would operate.

In December 1715, J. Law gave the regent a letter in which he once again explained his idea. There is one mysterious place in the letter. “But the bank,” wrote J. Law, “is not the only and not the greatest of my ideas, I will create an institution that will amaze Europe with the changes it brought about in favor of France. These changes will be more significant than those changes that occurred from the discovery of the Indies or the introduction of credit..."

At the end of 1717, J. Law founded a gigantic enterprise - the Company of the Indies. Since it was originally created to settle the Mississippi River basin that then belonged to France, contemporaries most often called it the Mississippi Company.

By this time, the East India Company was flourishing in England, and there was a similar society in Holland. But the company organized by J. Law was different from them. First of all, it was not an association of a narrow group of merchants who distributed shares among themselves. The shares of the Mississippi Company were intended for active trading on the stock exchange. The company was closely connected with the state, not only in the sense that it received enormous privileges from the state, a monopoly in many areas.

On the board of the company, next to the “imperturbable Scot” J. Low, Philip of Orleans himself, the regent of France, sat. The company was merged with the General Bank, which from the beginning of 1719 came under the jurisdiction of the state and became known as the Royal Bank. The latter lent capitalists money to buy shares in the company and managed its financial affairs. All threads of management of both institutions were concentrated by J. Law.

Thus, the second “great idea” of J. Low was the idea of centralization, association of capitals.

Here J. Law again “emerged as a prophet ahead of his time.” Only in the middle of the 19th century. In Western Europe and America, the rapid growth of joint stock companies began. At the end of the 20th century. they covered almost the entire economy in economically developed countries, especially large-scale production.

Features of the formation of the European banking system.

The European Union is an international organization of a special type, which has a number of unique features that clearly distinguish the EU from all international organizations existing in the modern world. There is an opinion that the European Union has ceased to be an exclusively international organization, in the traditional meaning of this concept, and has acquired some features of statehood. However, the EU continues to demonstrate the main features of an international organization and, from the point of view of the science of international law, cannot be considered as anything else. The uniqueness of the European Union lies in the formation on its territory of a single legal space based on the implementation of general principles of law. Legal regulation of banking activities in a particular state is carried out within the framework of a special branch of the national legal system - banking law. Banking law, as a rule, is understood as a complex branch of law of a particular state, and in relation to the EU. The basis for the development of cooperation between EU member states in the field of legal regulation of banking activities should be sought, first of all, in the Rome Treaty on the European Community of 1957 and the Single European Act of 1986. These documents defined the main directions and principles of cooperation between member states in the field of economics and finance, as well as in the field of administrative and legal regulation of economic relations, incl. and banking activities. The creation of a system of uniform banking regulation in Europe was carried out within the framework of the institutional structure of the economic community. Due to the principle of mutual recognition of licenses, credit institutions that have a license from one of the Member States to carry out banking activities have the right to freely provide banking services throughout the EU to any legal entities and individuals and establish branches and representative offices throughout the EU without any restrictions. Freedom of banking throughout the EU contributes to the complete liberalization of the banking services market and stimulates competition, which provides the client with a wide choice, both when choosing the bank itself and when choosing the required banking product. Due to the principle of consolidated supervision, banking supervisory authorities (national central banks or specialized supervisory authorities) are responsible for exercising full and comprehensive control over the activities of national credit institutions, including extraterritorial supervision over their activities outside the state of origin, as well as over the activities of their branches, representative offices and subsidiaries. Supervision of the activities of credit institutions is carried out in the manner prescribed by the national legislation of the member states. In studies on EU banking law, this principle is often referred to as the “home country control principle.”

In the course of historical development, segmented and universal banking systems emerged.

With a universal structure, the law does not contain restrictions regarding certain types of transactions and areas of financial services. All financial institutions can carry out any types of transactions and provide clients with a full range of services. This type of universal banks has developed in Europe. A large role in the functioning of the banking sector is played by the high degree of self-control of financial institutions and their strict adherence to customs and traditions developed by the banking community.

The intertwining of the functions of various types of credit institutions and the popularity of the universal type of bank creates certain difficulties in defining the concepts of “bank” and “banking activity”. Most often, the main feature of banking activity is considered to be accepting deposits and issuing loans as a professional activity. This is the practice adopted in the banking legislation of Belgium, Italy, Spain, Greece, Luxembourg and other countries. In some other countries (Germany, France), the term “bank” or “credit institution” is associated with a wider range of services and is not limited only to accepting savings and issuing loans. In some countries, such as the UK, it is sufficient to merely perform a deposit-taking function to qualify as a credit institution. This allows us to equate some types of specialized institutions with banks.

In European countries, there is a model of the banking system that allows banks to combine short-term lending with investments in corporate securities. A significant turnover of stock values passes through such banks in these countries, primarily with regard to the placement of securities of private corporations.

Currently, the main model of organization of European banks is a universal bank, which carries out all types of banking operations, including operations with securities.

Now let's move directly to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

2.2 European system of central banks

The European System of Central Banks is an international banking system consisting of the supranational European Central Bank and the National Central Banks of the member states of the European Economic Community. It is one of the key structures of the European Economic and Monetary Union.

The structure of the ESCB is similar to the Federal Reserve System in the USA. However, unlike the Federal Reserve Bank, where each Federal Reserve Bank independently carries out the functions assigned to it and does not have a “superior body” with banking functions, the European Central Bank is organized within the structure of the ESCB, performing the functions of a bank of banks for the central banks of the euro area member countries. Thus, the banking structure of the euro area is rather three-tier and has no analogues in the world economy.

The central banks of Great Britain, Denmark and Sweden are members of the European System of Central Banks with a special status: they do not take part in decision-making on the implementation of a common monetary policy for the euro area.

The European System of Central Banks includes the European Central Bank and the central banks of the euro area member countries.

The ESCB and the ECB are independent from other bodies of the Union, from the governments of the EEMS member countries and any other institutions. This is consistent with the generally accepted status of a central bank within a country.

Of significant importance is the general principle enshrined in a special article of the statute, according to which the ESCB is governed by the management (“decision-making bodies”) of the European Central Bank, and above all by the Governing Council.

The Governing Council, the supreme governing body, includes all members of the Executive Directorate and governors of the national securities of the member countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union.

Main functions of the Board of Governors:

adapting instructions and making decisions to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the creation of the European System of Central Banks;

determination of key elements of the EEMS monetary policy, such as interest rates, the size of minimum reserves of National Central Banks, development of specific instructions for its behavior;

approval of the rules for the internal organization of the ECB and its governing bodies;

acting as a consultant to the ECB;

determination of the procedure for representing the European System of Central Banks in the field of international cooperation.

The Executive Directorate consists of the President, Vice President and four members from among candidates with extensive professional experience in the financial or banking field. They are appointed from among the citizens of the EMEA member countries at a meeting of the heads of government of these countries on a proposal from the Council of Europe after consultation with the European Parliament and the Governing Council of the ECB.

The Executive Directorate is obliged to carry out monetary policy in accordance with the instructions and rules adopted by the Governing Council of the ECB, and thereby direct the actions of the NCB, adopting departmental instructions as necessary.

Main tasks of the General Council:

· implementation of advisory functions of the ESCB;

· collection and processing of statistical information;

· preparation of quarterly and annual reports on the activities of the ECB, as well as weekly consolidated financial statements;

· development and adoption of the necessary rules for standardization of accounting and reporting on operations carried out by the National Central Bank;

· adoption of measures related to the payment of the authorized capital of the European Central Bank in the part not regulated by the EU General Treaty;

· development of job descriptions and rules of employment at the ECB.

The President of the European Central Bank is simultaneously the chairman of all three of its governing bodies: the Board of Governors, the Executive Directorate and the General Council. Moreover, in the first two cases, he has a casting vote in the event of an equal distribution of votes. In addition, the President represents the ECB in external organizations.

The national central banks of the member countries are an integral part of the European System of Central Banks and act in accordance with the directions and instructions of the ECB.

The Governing Council of the ECB is empowered to develop monetary policy, and the Executive Directorate implements it. To the extent possible and appropriate, the European Central Bank shall make use of the capabilities of National Central Banks.

The ESCB has thirteen Committees under the leadership of the Governing Council:

· Committee of Internal Auditors;

· Banknote Committee;

· Budget Committee;

· External Communications Committee;

· Accounting and Cash Revenue Committee;

· Legal Committee;

· Market Operations Committee;

· Monetary Policy Committee;

· International Relations Committee;

· Statistics Committee;

· Banking Supervision Committee;

· Information Systems Committee;

· Committee of Payment and Settlement Systems.

The European Central Bank implements a single monetary policy through authorized counterparties.

Authorized counterparties have access to the capabilities of the European System of Central Banks only through the National Central Bank of the EEAS member state in which they are located. NCBs collect applications to participate in the operations of the European Central Bank and transmit this data to the ECB's central computer in Frankfurt am Main. Based on the collected applications, the ECB determines the market price of resources and delivers appropriate instructions to the National Central Banks, which distribute transactions among counterparties.

The European Central Bank can use foreign exchange reserves to conduct foreign exchange interventions, and it is given the right to independently make decisions on such interventions.

2.3 Current trends in the development of the European banking system

Banks that operate successfully in the international financial market always rely on a strong position in their country of origin. There are certain changes in national legislation related to the liberalization of national banking activities.

Structural changes in the banking sector of a number of EU countries are primarily expressed in the restructuring of the banking structure: the modern, transformed banking structure is a consequence of the new structure of demand, globalization and the development of information technology. Diversification will play an increasingly important role in banks' strategy. In the future, the priority will be to focus on major agreements. The largest banks in the world today are universal banks and the like. Europe's large banks, which are predominantly universal, have better ratings than their North American and Japanese counterparts.

The activities of state banks in EU countries are important. Thus, in the UK there are projects to create new state banks that will operate on the basis of post offices and will provide services to low-income groups and rural residents. In countries such as Germany and Poland, this role is played by credit unions and cooperative banks. For small depositors, placing savings in public banks is less risky than in private ones. State-owned banks are less affected by the economic cycle. As the experience of the Czech Republic and Hungary shows, previous nationalization can be the fastest route to the next sale of troubled banks to foreign owners. In general, state banks are and, probably, will continue to be an integral part of the banking systems of most countries. The main thing is that control and government bodies do not make any exceptions for them and do not provide any benefits.

The number of national banking institutions in countries is decreasing, which is compensated by an increase in the number of subdivisions of foreign banks. Thus, over the past ten years, the number of foreign banks that operate in Germany has doubled. For the banking system of many countries, foreign banks operating on their territory pose a significant threat. This applies, for example, not only to the countries of Eastern Europe (in general, the assets of local banks in the Eastern European region at the beginning of 2000 amounted to 1509 billion euros, and foreign ones - 1037 billion euros, which is only 31% less), but also to highly developed countries. On the one hand, foreign banks cover the lack of domestic banking capital, which is not enough for the development of national industry, and on the other hand, they try to conquer the banking market of the host countries and squeeze out national banks.

For example, as Irish fund managers, following the country's entry into the eurozone, reduce investment in Irish banks and companies and favor investments abroad, there is an increase in the surplus of securities in the Irish stock market. This trend makes it quite easy for foreign banks to take control of Irish financial institutions. There are two ways to counter the process of absorption of national banks by foreign banks: firstly, the creation of a strong national banking group through the merger of large banks in the country; secondly, this is the search by national banks for foreign business partners from among financial institutions that have fairly strong positions in their domestic financial services markets.

An important process that is taking place today in the banking sector of the global financial system is the merger of banks.

In 2006, the total volume of mergers and acquisitions in Europe reached 1.479 billion euros or 42.3% of the global figure. The reasons for acquisitions and mergers of banks can be different: the financial crisis of the bank, the deterioration of its financial condition, the replacement of the strategic plans of the bank’s management, as well as others, including family ones (for example, when the heirs of private banks in Switzerland do not want to be bankers and continue the business of their parents).

The merger process takes on different forms and directions. In particular, as an alternative to a merger, a model is proposed where two banks become co-founders of a common investment bank. This approach has not yet been taken, but BNP Paribas is in talks with large European financial institutions regarding such an alliance. To this end, BNP Paribas plans to transform its investment division into a separate structural unit, which will have its own listing on the stock exchange.

The merger of banking and insurance activities is common today. Previously, banks and insurance companies were partners who operated in similar areas, but did not see one another as competitors. Nowadays, insurance companies are interfering in banking activities, in the area of investing capital or long-term loans. Banks, for their part, strive to sell insurance products, primarily life insurance policies, 50% of which, for example, in Italy and France, are provided by banks. This is due to a number of reasons. For example, in Germany, as in other Western European countries, there are certain doubts about the prospects for state pension provision - the percentage of pensioners among the population in the next ten years, according to forecasts of foreign economists, will increase significantly.

Therefore, the conclusion of a life insurance contract is a component of a comprehensive solution to the issue of security for the elder. Additionally, capitalized life insurance policies are extremely attractive from a tax perspective as a form of investment. So, transnational banks in the insurance market responded with the slogan “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Some banks have decided to create a cooperative model, where a cooperative bank and insurance company mutually assist each other in transactions.

One of the largest banks in the world, the German Deutsche Bank, on the contrary, decided to conduct business independently and offer its own products on the insurance market. Therefore, first, they created their own life insurance company, then acquired a controlling stake in a large insurance company that had a good reputation in the market, and then merged a banking subsidiary with it.

In recent years, the global private banking business, which serves high-net-worth individuals, has undergone significant changes due to increasing customer demands. Swiss banks retain their leadership in this market, controlling more than a third of its volume. The American banks of the Citigroup group and other European banks, such as HSBC, are trying to create competition for it. In 2000, HSBC entered into a joint venture with Merril Lynch to monitor the needs of the 50 million potential wealthy clients who could be expected to require online investment advice before the end of the decade.

The main results of reforming the banking system of Eastern and Central Europe include its structural restructuring, liberalization of interest rates and banking operations, and partial alignment of banking legislation and the banking supervision system with international norms and EU standards.

So, the main modern trends in European banking are:

· the main subjects of banking are transnational banks;

· reorganization of the TNB banking network, reduction of branches and branches;

· growth in the book value of banks, increase in bank size;

· information technologies are becoming the main condition and determining factor in the work of TNB;

· the emergence of new organizational forms of TNB activity, in particular Internet sections;

· increasing the presence of foreign banks in the national banking systems of countries;

· banking business is becoming less regulated;

· in a number of countries, state-owned banks remain an integral part of national banking systems;

· the role of insurance as one of the activities of international banking business is increasing;

· there is a trend towards consolidation in the European banking business - fewer large institutions serving regional, national and international markets;

· diversification will play an increasingly important role in the strategy of banks; in the future, the concentration of activities on main agreements will come to the fore;

· the strongest banks in the world today are universal banks and the like;

· an important process that is taking place today in the banking sector of the global financial system is bank mergers;

· development of international private banking business;

· partial bringing the banking legislation and banking supervision system of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe into compliance with international norms and EU standards.

3. Comparison of the banking systems of European countries with the systems of other countries

3.1 English banking system

Banking statistics in England divides all financial institutions into two groups: the banking sector itself and non-banking financial institutions.

Table 1 - UK financial institutions.

Central bank .

In the modern economic conditions of the development of many countries in the world, the discussion about the role and functions of central banks, which began almost from the moment of their inception, has received additional impetus. Many banking specialists associate the effectiveness of the financial policy pursued by the central bank with their powers and the degree of independence from government bodies.

Let's take a closer look at the heart of the British banking system - the Bank of England.

The Bank of England is the oldest central bank in the world. This institution appeared at the end of the seventeenth century in England, as a result of the so-called deal between an almost bankrupt government and a group of financiers.

The banking system in England in the 1690s consisted of moneylender bankers, who provided loans from borrowed funds, and goldsmiths, who accepted gold deposits and then made loans. In 1688, the costly civil war finally ended. A political party came to power that pursued a policy of mercantilism and predatory seizure of colonies. England's most serious enemy was the French Empire, and soon England started a half-century war.

The policy of militarism turned out to be very costly, and in the 1690s the English government found that the treasury was depleted and there was no money. It proved impossible for the government to induce people to buy its bonds after so many years of war. It was also not possible to collect taxes at higher rates.

Then in 1693 a House of Commons committee was formed to find ways to raise money for the government. At the same time, the Scottish financier William Peterson appeared, proposing a completely new plan to the government on behalf of his financial group. In exchange for certain government privileges, Peterson proposed creating a Bank of England that would issue new banknotes and cover the deficit. Thus, a deal was struck. Immediately after the Bank was approved by Parliament in 1694, King William himself and some members of Parliament rushed to become shareholders of the new “money factory”.

In the second half of the 18th century, private banks appeared that issued bills. By 1793 there were about 400. The financing of the generation-long wars with France that began in the 1790s led to the suspension of coin payments by a third of the banks of England in 1793, and then by the Bank of England itself in 1797. Later other banks joined them.

This suspension lasted 24 years until the end of the war with France. During this period until 1821, Bank of England notes served as real money (although not yet legalized), and after 1812 until the end of this period they became legal tender. As one might expect, a number of unreliable banks appeared during this period. In 1797 there were about 280 “country” banks in England and Wales, and by 1813 the number exceeded 900. By 1816, the total number of bank notes was 24 million pounds sterling, doubling the 1797 figure.

History on a European scale

The date of birth of the European Central Bank (ECB) is 06/01/1998. The basis for the formation of the bank was the Amsterdam Agreement, signed in 1997. The headquarters are located in Frankfurt am Main (Germany). The Bank is independent from the rest of the European Union (EU) and regulates the monetary policy of the Eurozone countries.

The idea of creating the ECB arose long before its actual founding. The generalization of the market of European countries began immediately after the end of World War II. The European Economic Community united the largest countries in Europe in 1957. Somewhat later, a conventional monetary unit was approved for mutual settlements - ECU (currency unit). The ECU rate was linked directly to a basket of European currencies. ECU was initially introduced into non-cash payments, however, in some countries it was issued in the form of cash bills, government loans and bonds. Since the beginning of 1999, the ECU has been replaced by the euro at a rate of 1:1. This step helped firmly fix the exchange rates of the national currencies of the European Union countries against the euro. The euro has become a full-fledged self-sufficient monetary unit. At the beginning of 2002, the euro was introduced into cash circulation and from that moment the smooth growth of the European currency began.

At the end of the 80s of the twentieth century, a memorandum “On the creation of the European monetary area and the European Central Bank” was created, approved and signed. After the conclusion of the international treaty establishing the EU, the first European Monetary Institute (EMI) was formed. The main function laid down in the foundation of the EMI was the transition to a single currency for all - the euro. Thus, the time has gradually come for the transformation of the EMI into the European Central Bank.

Functions of the ECB

The main tasks of the ECB include the following functions:

regulation and distribution of money supply between financial institutions, the state and financial companies;
responsibility for Eurozone monetary policy;
creation and control of the execution of Eurozone monetary policy;
availability of exchange reserves of Eurozone countries and competent management;
monetary issue of euro banknotes;
order for setting the interest rate;
control over the level of inflation (no more than 2%) and stable pricing policy in the Eurozone countries.

To fully implement its functions, the ECB provides for the holding of loans-for-shares auctions for other large banks, offers stabilization loans, conducts transactions on open markets and takes part in foreign exchange transactions.

Despite the fact that the ECB is an independent bank and defends this right, it has to annually submit an official report to the European Parliament (Council of Europe).

ECB leadership and capital levels

Currently, the European Central Bank is a legal entity based on international agreements. The authorized capital at the time of the bank's formation amounted to more than 5 billion euros. The main shareholders were the central banks of European countries (the German federal bank Deutsche Bundesbank, banks of France, Italy and Spain).

The highest governing bodies of the ECB are the Governing Council, consisting of the heads of the central banks of European countries, as well as members of the executive board and board.

History of ECB Presidents

The Chairman is the head of the executive board, the governing board and the general council of the ECB. In addition, the chairman is entrusted with the functional responsibility of representing the bank abroad. The President of the European Central Bank is appointed by majority vote in the European Council for a term of 8 years without the right of re-election.

The Presidents of the ECB who headed their post were:

Wim Duisenberg (reign: 1998 - 2003). First president not to serve a full 8-year term. The transition period of the EMI in the ECB has begun. Tied the guilder exchange rate to the German mark. He had a great influence in the formation of the euro and the removal of the guilder from circulation. Until the beginning of 2002, guilder coins and banknotes remained an authorized means of payment, then their place was taken by the pan-European currency, and guilders forever remained in the “piggy banks” of numismatists.

Jean-Claude Trichet (reign: 2003 - 2011). During the reign of the ECB, it was repeatedly criticized by political authorities. Thus, the President of France (Nicolas Sarkozy) saw the main function of the bank as focusing on economic growth. Trichet, with the support of Germany, demanded the bank’s independence from the “internal” conditions of the European Union countries. During the financial crisis and the general rise in oil prices, Trichet purchased bonds of member states of the Eurozone, due to which some members of the board resigned in protest. However, it is worth noting Trichet's merits: he maintained control over the interest rate and did not violate the principles of the price stabilization policy.

Mario Draghi (reign: 2011 - present). Draghi's rule fell on the most difficult period, when the beginnings of doubts about the future of the EU appeared in European political circles. In 2016, Great Britain left the union. Draghi's policy at the ECB is characterized by restraint in relation to rising inflation and a constant avoidance of solving Greece's problems with loans.

European Bank Operations

Due to the global economic crisis, the ECB switched to the following types of operations:

Main refinancing operations (reverse liquidity arrangements) carried out every week with a maturity of 2 weeks. The main goal is the volume of refinancing for the financial sector.
Long-term refinancing operations (reverse transactions to organize liquidity), carried out once a month with a repayment period of 3 months. The main goal is to provide counterparties with additional and long-term collateral.
Fine-tuning operations are necessary to mitigate the impact of unexpected liquidity fluctuations.
Structural transactions are special issuance of debt certificates, reverse and forward transactions. The main goal is to change, through adjustments, the EU's structural position on the financial sector.

ECB rate

At the moment, the most worrying issue for the European bank remains the growth of inflation and the level of interest rates. In June 2014, the deposit rate went into negative territory and currently stands at -0.4%, while the ECB interest rate is zero:

Current rates and their history can be seen on the ECB website: http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/key_ecb_interest_rates/html/index.en.html. The bank's board of governors in July 2017 expressed the view that wage growth assumptions were too high and risky given the "dead" labor market. A slight increase in wages and the strengthening of the euro give a forecast for 2019 of a decrease in the inflation rate.

The ECB has firmly signaled €60 billion in bond purchases each month until the end of this year and the ability to increase the pace or duration of purchases if necessary.

In addition, the zero key rate will remain at the current level for some time after the end of the purchase. The ECB, despite the actions of the US Federal Reserve, which began the game of raising rates, continues its own monetary policy.

It is worth noting that the Bank of England, despite the UK’s exit from the EU, supports a policy similar to the ECB.

ECB rate

ECB rates can also be viewed on the official website of the European bank http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/policy_and_exchange_rates/euro_reference_exchange_rates/html/index.en.html.

By clicking on the chart icon on the right, you can get the exchange rate of the required currency to the euro from the beginning of its appearance, i.e. since 1999. For example, this is what the full dollar to euro exchange rate looks like:

As you can see, in the early 2000s there was a period when the dollar was worth more than the euro (which, by the way, not everyone knows about), and the quote range was from 0.85 to 1.6. The rate of the European Central Bank for the European currency is approved based on the results of trading sessions on world exchanges, i.e. in fact, based on the trading results of the world's largest banks. In calculating quotes, the main role is played by the opening price (initial exchange transaction) and closing price (final exchange transaction).

The basis for approving their own exchange quotations among commercial banks is the ECB rate published on the official portal - the link is given above. Using archived data on quotes (published on the bank’s official portal), you can view the dynamics of daily changes in currency quotes over a certain long-term period (month, quarter, etc.).

Official website ecb.europa.eu

European Central Bank is a leading international financial institution uniting the financial and monetary systems of the countries that are members of the European Union and the Euro Area, created in order to pursue a unified and independent policy of the member countries of the European Union, ensuring the stability of the EU currency and prices in the Eurozone. , the creation of official foreign exchange reserves of the European Union, the organization of international lending and mutual financial assistance between the states of the European Union.

European Central Bank is the central bank of the European Union, established on June 1, 1998. The bank's headquarters are located in the German city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The bank's staff includes all representatives of member states of the European Union. A financial institution, which is completely independent from other governing bodies of the European Union, determines the monetary policy of the EU countries, sets key interest rates, manages the official reserves of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), and has the right to authorize the issue of banknotes within the monetary union.

Goals, objectives and functions of the European Central Bank

The European Central Bank is the main bank of the Eurozone and the European Union, created to coordinate the monetary policy of the member countries of the European Monetary Union. The European Central Bank itself makes it a priority to maintain stable prices and control the level of inflation in countries that use the euro currency.

One of the goals of the creation of the European Union was the formation of a single market, ensuring the free movement of capital, goods and services between more than 360 million residents of the united states. To facilitate payments between them, a single currency was created - the euro. Today, the European Central Bank is a special legal entity operating on the basis of international agreements. Its authorized capital at its creation amounted to more than 5 billion euros; its shareholders are the central banks of European countries.

The highest body of the Central Bank of Europe is the board of governors, which includes members of the executive board and heads of central banks of the euro area member countries. The current management of the bank's activities is entrusted to the executive board, which consists of six members, including the chairman and his deputy. Their candidacies are proposed by the governing council and must be approved by the European Parliament, as well as the heads of state of the euro area.

The main functions of the European Central Bank are:

development and implementation of monetary policy of the European Union and Eurozone states;
maintenance and management of official monetary reserves of euro area countries;
monetary issue of euro banknotes;
establishing basic interest rates;
maintaining economic stability in the Eurozone, primarily the inflation rate not exceeding 2 percent.

To carry out these functions, the European Central Bank in practice provides stabilization loans, conducts collateral public auctions for leading banks, participates in foreign exchange transactions, and also makes other transactions on open markets.

In its activities, the Central Bank of Europe is formally independent. At the same time, it must report annually to the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Financial integration of the countries of the European Union is a multifaceted process that affects the entire system of global finance. The directions and degree of this influence depend to a large extent on the stability, stability, attractiveness of the new Euro, as well as on the goals, guidelines, and mechanisms for implementing the common monetary policy of the European Union countries, or more precisely, the EMU members.

Organizational structure and tasks of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB)

Currently, the ESCB exercises control over monetary policy in the euro area. The European System of Central Banks (see figure) is an international banking system consisting of the Central Bank of Europe and the national central banks of the member states of the European Union. National central banks (NCBs) of countries that are not members of the European Monetary System - England, Denmark, Greece and Sweden - are members of it with a special status: they do not have the right to take part in decision-making.

The creation of the European Economic Monetary System was a real breakthrough in the field of monetary integration.

Firstly, without leaving the global international monetary system, the European Communities clearly declared their “monetary independence”, which was fully consistent with their increased role in the global economy. For the first time, they decided to build their collective monetary policy independently, reinforcing this independence with an adequate institutional mechanism.

Secondly, instead of focusing on the dollar and the synchronized movement of the exchange rates of their currencies in relation to it, Western European countries decided to focus on the stability of these currencies themselves. A stable parity ratio was to be considered henceforth as a normal state. It could be revised only in cases of extreme necessity, and not unilaterally, but by decision of the Commission of the European Communities and Member States.

Thirdly, the spineless “snake” was replaced by a more structured system that, at least theoretically, had a certain internal core - the ECU. It was a fundamentally new collective unit of account, which was a “basket” of currencies of all participating countries.

Fourth, by creating the European Economic Monetary System, member states took the unprecedented step of consciously transferring to collective jurisdiction a significant part of their national sovereignty in the field of monetary policy.

First, the ECU parity was determined as the sum of the weighted average parities of individual currencies. Next, the reverse operation was carried out - the parity of each individual currency in the ECU and its central exchange rate, that is, the rate in relation to the ECU, were established. A grid of cross values of bilateral exchange ratios of individual currencies was compiled on the basis of their central rates. The limits of permissible fluctuations in market exchange rates of individual currencies were determined, which should not exceed 2.25% (6% for the Italian lira).

The unit of account of the European Economic Community, the ECU, was abolished and was replaced by a new pan-European monetary unit, the euro. Accordingly, all references to ECU in legal documents should be replaced by references to the euro, and funds in the ECU converted to euros in the specified ratio. The initial exchange rate of the euro is set in the ratio: 1 euro = 1 ECU (as of December 31, 1998).

The mechanism of the European Economic Monetary System included four main elements:

– mandatory unlimited interventions when fluctuation limits are reached;

- a deviation indicator introduced at the insistence of France, it was intended to give economic content to the ECU as the internal basis of the grid of currency parities. A currency was considered to be seriously deviating from the central rate if the deviation indicator exceeded 0.75. This meant that a situation had arisen in which the national authorities had to “correct the situation through adequate measures”;

– credit instruments. The introduction of a mechanism for maintaining exchange rates and a system of foreign exchange interventions entailed the creation of a short- and medium-term lending system, which includes the following elements:

A system of swap loans between central banks whose exchange rates have reached acceptable limits;

Short-term foreign exchange support, which was provided within relatively small quotas within the total amount of 14 billion. A loan under this line could be provided for a maximum of 8 months;

Medium-term financial assistance with a loan ceiling of 11 billion.

Short-term lending was carried out by the central bank without any conditions, and medium-term loans were provided subject to the implementation of economic policies approved by the Council of Ministers of the EEC at the level of finance ministers.

To make payments within Europe, two pan-European banking settlement systems have been in place since the first day of 1999:

TARGET (Trans-European Automated Real-time Gross settlement Express Transfer system) with domestic clearing settlement systems - RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlements);
EBA (European Banking Association system).

TARGET is an interbank settlement system for euros that operates in real time. TARGET consists of interconnected 15 national automated real-time wholesale settlement systems - RTGS, located in each of the EMU participating countries and operating on the basis of common infrastructure, procedures, and the payment system of the Central Bank of Europe in the form of mechanisms for the mutual ringing of these centers ( Interlinking System). The governments of the EEC member countries that are not currently included in the “euro area” also considered it necessary to create RTGS centers on the bases of their National Central Banks.
In addition to solving the above tasks, the European System of Central Banks in the course of its activities also performs the following functions:

Monetary issue of banknotes and coins

The ECB is the only organization authorized to authorize the issue of banknotes denominated in euros. The ESCB will issue these banknotes, which will become the only legal tender in the countries of the European Monetary System.

Cooperation in the field of banking supervision

The role of the ESCB in banking supervision is quite limited. The system should only contribute to the organized conduct of relevant activities, and can offer its recommendations on the scope of applicable legislation and the manner in which it should be applied. The ESCB's charter includes provisions giving it the right to more direct participation in banking supervision, but such a transfer of powers would require a unanimous decision of the EEC Council.

Advisory functions

The European Central Bank advises the Council of Europe or the governments of the EEC member countries on all projects within its competence: on issues of monetary circulation, means of payment, national central banks, statistical data, payment and settlement systems, stability of credit institutions, financial markets, etc.

Collection of statistical data

To properly use monetary policy instruments, they must be based on reliable and comparable statistics. This applies in particular to financial and banking data needed, for example, to calculate the reserve requirement base, as well as price statistics, as long as they are related to the fulfillment of the aforementioned ultimate goal of the ESCB's monetary policy. In particular, partially harmonized consumer price indices have already appeared in the system.

To the extent that it does not damage the main purpose of its existence - maintaining price stability, the European System of Central Banks is called upon to support the general economic policy within the European Economic and Monetary Union.

The ECB can engage in the usual operations of central banks: providing loans, including pawn loans (secured by debt securities), to financial institutions and open market operations in various financial instruments denominated in any currency, including the currencies of countries outside in the EMU, as well as with precious metals. The same operations can be carried out by National Central Banks, guided by the general principles developed by the European Central Bank.

The Statute of the European Central Bank provides for significant decentralization of the activities of the European System of Central Banks, so that operations such as repos and foreign exchange interventions are independently carried out by the National Central Banks. Each of them can also independently determine which commercial bank assets are acceptable as collateral for debt.
A characteristic feature of the activities of the European Central Bank is that all fundamental decisions taken by a simple or qualified (2/3 votes) majority provide for a “weighted” vote of the heads of central banks, in which the “weight” (i.e. the number of votes of each of them) ) is determined in accordance with the share of the corresponding country (its central bank) in the total capital of the Central Bank of Europe. This does not apply to members of the Executive Directorate, each of whom has only one vote.

The Central Bank of Europe and National Central Banks do not have the right to lend (in any form) to interstate (in the EEC system), state, regional and local authorities and organizations operating on the basis of state law. This, however, does not apply to state credit institutions, which in this case are treated in the same way as private credit institutions.

ECB and National Central Banks can establish links with central banks and financial institutions of other countries and international organizations and carry out all types of banking activities with them, using any financial assets and currencies.

Legal status of the Central Bank of Europe

The European Central Bank occupies a leading position in the institutional structure of the European banking system, uniting and coordinating the monetary and financial systems of European countries, and is the managing and organizing core of the European System of Central Banks.

Principles of independence in the activities of the European Central Bank

The European Central Bank operates on two principles: the principle of independence and the principle of accountability.
The principle of independence is placed at the forefront in Art. 130 agreement and art. 7 of the Statute, which reveal its meaning and content. The principle of independence affects the freedom (autonomy) in making relevant decisions by the body whose activities it determines. Of course, the degree of independence of one or another organ varies. For example, the degree of independence of the central bank does not compare with the degree of independence of the judiciary, which is significantly higher, but, nevertheless, in certain cases one can speak of an independent central bank as the fourth power in the state.

First of all, the principle of independence covers those functions and powers of the European Central Bank and NCBs that are enshrined in the Statute and the Treaty and, therefore, does not apply to other functions of these structures, namely, functions performed not in connection with the implementation of the objectives of currency regulation.

This principle is aimed at excluding potential political influence on these structures from the institutions of the bodies and institutions of the European Union, any government bodies (which are understood as both legislative and executive, as well as judicial bodies, and within the meaning of the article of the Statute, all three are covered level of management hierarchy in the state - national, regional and local).

The next point in revealing the semantic content of the principle of independence concerns the circle of persons who are prohibited from exerting political pressure on the currency regulation authorities of the European Union. However, the President of the Council of the EU and members of the European Commission, or members of the European Parliament hearing the President or members of the Executive Committee (Article 284(3) of the agreement), should try to create an atmosphere of open dialogue and not cross the fine line separating the free exchange of views from political influence prohibited by the Treaty.
The general principle of independence includes several elements that form its content. These include:

organizational independence;
personal (personal) independence;
functional independence;
Financial independence.

Board of Governors of the European Central Bank

The Governing Council, the supreme governing body, includes all members of the Executive Directorate and the governors of the national central banks (NCBs) of the member states of the European Economic and Monetary Union. The general management of the Board of Governors is carried out by the Chairman of the Board.

Thirteen Committees operate under the leadership of the Board of Governors:

committee of internal auditors;
banknote committee;
budget committee;
external communications committee;
Accounting and Cash Revenue Committee;
legal committee;
market operations committee;
Monetary Policy Committee;
International Relations Committee;
statistics committee;
Banking Supervision Committee;
Information Systems Committee;
Payment and Settlement Systems Committee.

President of the European Central Bank

The President of the Central Bank of Europe is simultaneously the chairman of all three of its governing bodies: the Board of Governors, the Executive Directorate and the General Council; Moreover, in the first two cases, he has a casting vote in the event of an equal distribution of votes. In addition, the President represents the European Central Bank in external organizations or appoints a proxy for this role. In relation to third parties, he, by law, represents the European Central Bank.

Distribution of income of the ECB and national central banks

The income received by national central banks in implementing the monetary policy objectives of the ESCB (hereinafter referred to as “cash income”) is distributed at the end of each budget year. The monetary income of each national central bank is equal to the annual income derived from the assets held by it to secure bank notes in circulation and to secure obligations arising from deposits created by credit institutions. These assets are determined by national central banks in accordance with benchmarks set by the Board of Governors.

The cash income of each national central bank is reduced by any amount of interest paid by that central bank on obligations arising from deposits created by credit institutions. The Governing Council may decide to reimburse national central banks for costs incurred in connection with the issue of banknotes or, in exceptional circumstances, for individual losses that are associated with monetary policy operations carried out on behalf of the ESCB. Reimbursement shall be made in such form as the Board of Governors deems appropriate; these amounts can be reimbursed from the cash income of national central banks.

The amount of cash income of the national central banks is distributed among them in proportion to the paid-up shares of these banks in the capital of the ECB, subject to any decision taken by the Board of Governors. Settlement and settlement of account balances arising from the distribution of cash income are carried out by the European Central Bank in accordance with guidelines established by the Board of Governors.
The net profit received by the Central Bank of Europe is distributed in the following order:

– an amount determined by the Board of Governors, which cannot exceed 20% of net profit, is transferred to the general reserve fund with a limit of 100% of capital;

– the remaining net profit is distributed among shareholders of the Central Bank of Europe in proportion to the shares paid by them.

If the ECB records a loss, this loss shall be covered from the general reserve fund of the European Central Bank and, if necessary, on the basis of a decision of the Governing Council, from the cash revenues for the relevant budget year in proportion to the amount and within the limits of the amounts allocated to the national central banks.

European Central Bank at the present stage

At the present stage of activity of the Central Bank of Europe, the question of the future of the euro, which has two main aspects: domestic and international, is relevant.
The internal aspect is determined by the fact that a single currency, a common monetary and exchange rate policy, and close foreign economic ties do not eliminate the relative isolation of peoples, states and economies within the Economic and Monetary Union and, therefore, a possible conflict of interests. This is the main weakness of the euro as a currency: behind it is not a single sovereign state with clearly defined interests and political goals, but a conglomerate of different states. The supranational bodies they created have broad, but still limited, delegated powers.

A high level of economic and political integration has been achieved within the EMU. There has been a customs union and a common trade policy for more than thirty years. A single internal market has been created; trade within the EEC accounts for about 60% of the total foreign trade turnover of its member countries. The existing system of law and institutions of the Community ensures fairly effective management of integration processes.

The euro is based on a single monetary and exchange rate policy, which is fully vested in the supranational European Central Bank. The fight against inflation has been declared the highest policy priority of the European Economic Monetary System, which is the most important condition for the stability of the single currency.
The international aspect of the problem essentially boils down to how well the euro fits into the monetary system and what impact the crisis state of this system has on the new currency. Stock markets (primarily American) are clearly “overheated”; the volume of dollars circulating in the world significantly exceeds the capacity of their reabsorption by the American economy. The United States dollar today, of course, remains the dominant reserve currency. It is here that the volumes of almost half of the trade transactions carried out in the world are measured. In 80% of all financial transactions, the dollar is one of the parties.

At the same time, the economy of the United States of America is seriously vulnerable, as evidenced by the current financial crisis. The dollar cannot remain the only favorite of financial markets. Experts warn that if holders of large gold and foreign exchange reserves, such as Japan and China, transfer a significant portion of their holdings into euros, the US currency and the US economy could collapse. The share of the dollar in the currency system is decreasing, while the share of the euro is increasing. However, this process occurs with multidirectional trends: periods of rise in the euro exchange rate alternate with periods of its fall.
The main emphasis in developing anti-crisis measures in most developing economies is on reducing interest rates by central banks (with the exception of the Russian Federation, Belarus and a number of other countries), reducing required reserve ratios for credit institutions in order to release additional volumes of liquidity, creating new mechanisms for providing liquidity to financial institutions, increasing the size of guarantees on bank deposits and using swap lines with the monetary authorities of other countries.
The European Central Bank's monetary policy measures aimed at stimulating economic activity are as follows:

the list of instruments accepted as collateral for debt under ECB loans has been expanded;
The volumes and terms of lending to market participants by the European Central Bank have increased, including the provision of loans by the Central Bank of Europe in United States dollars.

The problems of the current state of the European economy and the activities of the European Central Bank were discussed at an international press conference held in August 2013 with the participation of the President of the Central Bank of Europe M. Draghi.

As follows from the reports of the President of the ECB and other participants, the ECB decided to leave the interbank rate unchanged at 0.5% indefinitely. In contrast to the situation with the English economy and the statement of the UK Central Bank, inflation in the Eurozone as a whole was about 1.6%, which is below the current target of 2%. After a 6-quarter decline in economic activity, this indicator has stabilized at a minimum level, which corresponds to the current situation in the business cycle.

It is also noted that the markets are not in the best condition. However, experts expect growth in Eurozone exports due to rising external demand. Moreover, the policy of maintaining growth in domestic demand is likely to continue.

Thus, the European Central Bank expects recovery and stabilization of the Eurozone in the near future, despite weakness in domestic demand, which leads to lower inflation. There is an increase in prices in the administrative sector, as well as in the commodity market, which does not look quite usual against the backdrop of low economic activity.

The European Central Bank hopes for recovery and stabilization of the Eurozone

The ECB is counting on the recovery and stabilization of the Eurozone.

On the other hand, the European Central Bank is concerned about the current situation in the credit market and notes the continued fragmentation of the Eurozone. Thus, it was noted that risks on bonds of Eurozone countries will be reduced, with the exception of securities of Spain and Italy, which should lead to mixed results, because These are the two countries that have suffered the most in recent years.

As a result, it can be said that the ECB has left its policy unchanged indefinitely (ie until announced otherwise). However, the current situation allows us to hope for stabilization at low levels of activity (at least without further decline) according to the current situation in the business cycle. On the other hand, the European Central Bank will continue to maintain liquidity in the money market “as long as the market needs it.”

Development of banking integration in the European Union and the Eurozone.

The European Union has today gone through the stages of banking integration, expressed in the adoption of the First and Second Banking Directives, the Consolidated Banking Directive, the CRDIV/CRR Package, however, the achieved level of integration of EU states in the banking sector is recognized by Europeans as insufficient to withstand systemic risks and crises. Thus, today on the agenda of the European Union is the implementation of the project of the Deep and Genuine Economic and Monetary Union (Deep and Genuine EMU).

As noted in European Commission documents, the asymmetry between integrated financial markets, on the one hand, and the still nationally segmented financial stability architecture, on the other, has led to inappropriate coordination among competent authorities at all stages of the current crisis.

Fundamental reform of the Economic and Monetary Union is based on four building blocks: an integrated financial system, an integrated fiscal system, an integrated economic policy system, measures to ensure the necessary democratic legitimacy and accountability.

The goal of the Deep and True EMU project is to move towards a Full Fiscal and Economic Union. In such a deep and genuine EMU, the economic and fiscal policies of the Member States should be subject to greater coordination and control at European level.

Stages of movement towards “genuine EMU”

1. At the first stage (within 6-18 months), priority should be given to the full deployment of new economic management tools and the introduction of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, after which the introduction of the Single Resolution Mechanism for banks will be provided ).
2. The second stage (from 18 months to 5 years) involves fiscal integration (including the possibility of demanding a revision of the state budget in accordance with European obligations), deepening coordination in the field of taxation and employment.
3. The third stage (will begin no earlier than in five years) - the establishment of an autonomous eurozone budget, providing for the budgetary provision of EMU.

In May 2012, the European Central Bank (ECB) put forward the idea of a Banking Union, which could unite either the eurozone states or most EU countries. It is expected that the Banking Union will strengthen national banks and reduce their dependence on government finances provided for the repurchase of sovereign debts. In addition, the objectives of the Banking Union will be to tighten supervision in the eurozone banking sector, as well as create a pan-European deposit protection system.

Upon completion of the creation of the Banking Union, the following should function: a single supervisory mechanism, a common deposit insurance system, and an integrated crisis management structure.

The single supervisory mechanism, launched in November 2014, consists of the ECB and national regulators. The ECB exercises prudential supervision over credit institutions registered in EU member states of the eurozone, and has all the powers of national regulators of these countries.

An analysis of the functioning of the EU banking union should be carried out in order to borrow the positive experience of the EU for the development of banking integration in the EAEU and BRICS, as well as in order to learn the experience of anti-crisis regulation in the banking sector. The information base here can be the “Banking Union” section on the website of the European Commission, the website of the European Central Bank and the website of the EU Banking Supervisory Authority.

A separate area of influence of foreign banking systems on the Russian banking sector is the interaction of banking systems within the framework of regional integration associations, primarily the EAEU and BRICS. This interaction is manifested both at the micro level (the establishment of correspondent relations between banks of member countries and the intensification of cross-border payments due to the intensification of mutual trade and mutual investments, the penetration of banking capital into each other’s banking systems), and at the level of the banking community of these countries (joint forums, working groups).

In the conditions of intensification of regional economic integration with the participation of the Russian Federation, the analysis of integration processes in the banking sector of the EAEU and BRICS states, as well as the prerequisites and current state of the formation of supranational legal and institutional foundations of banking integration within the framework of these integration associations, takes on particular importance.

This analysis can be carried out on the basis of analytical reports and statistical data published by specialized bodies and organizations.

1. Information portal of the Interstate Bank of the CIS, which publishes quarterly reviews of the monetary policy of the EAEU member states, covering the legal framework for the activities of national (central) banks, monetary policy instruments and other trends in the development of financial markets of these countries, statistical information of central ( national) banks of the EAEU states, including the main macroeconomic indicators and indicators of financial markets, summary materials on mutual payments of the EAEU member states, prepared by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation based on data from the central (national) banks of the EAEU states, materials of meetings of the Council of Governors of the central (national) banks EAEU countries analytical reviews, articles, news from the CIS and EAEU countries.
2. The Eurasian Development Bank, which produces the CIS Mutual Investment Monitoring, the EDB Integration Barometer, and the CIS Macromonitor. We also draw attention to the report “Quantitative analysis of economic integration of the EU and the EAEU”.
3. The Eurasian Economic Commission, which publishes materials from the meetings of the Financial Policy Department and the Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

The problem of integration of the banking systems of the EAEU member states is addressed by the Protocol on Financial Services (Appendix No. 17 to the Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union), according to which the member states will carry out harmonization in the financial market by 2020, and by 2025 a single body will be created on regulation of the financial market with a location in the city of Almaty.

Integration processes in the BRICS group have reached a qualitatively new level since 2014. The results of the 6th BRICS summit, held on July 15, 2014 in Fortaleza (Brazil), were the following documents.

1. Agreement on the creation of the New Development Bank (NDB), the purpose of which is to mobilize resources to finance infrastructure projects. The Bank's initial declared capital will be $100 billion. USA. Its initial subscribed capital will be $50 billion. USA and will be equally distributed among Bank representatives.
2. Agreement on the creation of a BRICS Contingent Foreign Exchange Reserve Pool, the initial size of which will be $100 billion. USA. This Pool, as stated in the Declaration, will play a positive role as an insurance mechanism, help countries avoid short-term liquidity problems and promote deepening cooperation among the BRICS countries, and will also help strengthen the global financial safety net and will be an important addition to existing international mechanisms.
3. Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between export credit and export credit insurance institutions of the BRICS countries.
4. Agreement on cooperation in the field of innovation within the framework of the Interbank Cooperation Mechanism of the BRICS countries.

At the summit, it was decided to develop a “Strategy for Economic Cooperation of the BRICS Countries” and “General Principles for Deepening the Economic Partnership of the BRICS Countries,” which will define measures for the development of economic, trade and investment cooperation within the BRICS framework.

Particularly important for the development of mutual trade and investment cooperation is the promotion of the BRICS Development Bank project, which was announced at the Durban summit in March 2013. This project has already become the subject of research in foreign economic science. Thus, the subject of analysis has already become the size and quality of capital, the quality of the loan portfolio, the degree of financial “sophistication” of the instruments used, the possibility of expanding membership for non-BRICS countries, etc. BRICS Bank is recommended to use the experience and expertise of existing development banks, such as the Latin American Bank Development Bank (CAF), European Investment Bank (EIB), Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), German Development Bank (KfW), South African Industrial Development Corporation, Chinese Development Bank, as well as others.

One of the formats of interaction within the group is the BRICS Banking Forum.

Analysis of economic (including banking) integration into BRICS can be carried out using the following information resources.

1. Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation “Russia in BRICS”.
2. Website of the National BRICS Research Committee.
3. Website of the project “Civil BRICS”.
4. Website of the Russian part of the BRICS Business Council.
5. European analytical website “EURO-BRICS”.

Particular attention should be paid to this area of influence of foreign banking systems on the domestic banking sector, such as the provision of liquidity (primarily long-term) by foreign banks to Russian credit institutions and the interaction of foreign and Russian banks in cross-border payment relations.

In this regard, it is necessary to point out the political factors that currently complicate these relationships. Thus, the short-term suspension of transactions on credit cards of SMP-Bank and InvestCapitalBank in 2014 by the international payment systems Visa and Mastercard contributed to the intensification of the creation of a national payment card system in Russia and the transfer of Visa and Mastercard processing from abroad to Russia. As a measure to ensure the financial security of Russia, a decision was made to speed up the procedure for creating and launching a national payment card.

The negative impact of the disconnection of Russian banks (Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, VEB and Rosselkhozbank) from sources of long-term funding on the indicators of liquidity and stability of the Russian banking sector, the threat of disconnection of Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank communications system, the suspension of the process of including the ruble among the settlement currencies of the international foreign exchange system CLS contribute to the search for alternative interbank payment systems and sources of long-term funding.

In this regard, the possibilities of creating a national analogue of SWIFT and (or) connecting Russian banks to the Chinese analogue of SWIFT (China International Payment System (CIPS)), joining Russia to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) created by China, and developing the New BRICS Development Bank are seen as promising. .

Thus, it should be summarized that the analysis of the degree, directions, forms of influence of national and supranational banking systems on the Russian banking sector should be carried out taking into account the development trends of the global financial system, the specifics of regional integration processes based on a diverse range of sources of statistical, analytical and scientific information.

A blueprint for a deep and genuine economic and monetary union Launching a European Debate. P. 3. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/news/archives/2012/ll/pdf/blueprint_en.pdf. (date of access: December 29, 2012).
A blueprint for a deep and genuine economic and monetary union Launching a European Debate P. 12. URL: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/president/news/archives/2012/ll/pdf/blueprint_en.pdf ( access date 12/29/2012).
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council.A Road map to Banking Union. COM (2012) 510 final. Brussels, 12.9.2012. P. 3-6.URL: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finances/docs/committees/reform/20120912-com-2012-510_en.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/finance/general-policy/banking-union/index_en.htm
http://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/html/index.en.html
http://www.eba.europa.eu/
http://www.isbnk.info/ The Interstate Bank, being the Secretariat of the Council of Heads of Central (National) Banks of the EurAsEC member states, coordinates the exchange of information on the most pressing economic and financial issues, including the development of national banking systems of the Commonwealth, the organization of banking supervision , the state of balances of payments and foreign exchange markets and the macroeconomic development of these countries.
http://www. isbnk. i nfo/analytics_moneta ry_overview. htm I
http://w ww. isbnk. i nfo/statistics_monetary. htm I
http://www.isbnk.info/analytics_payments.htmi
http://www.isbnk.info/analytics_meetings.html
http://www.isbnk.info/analytics_review.html
http://www.eabr.org/ The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), established in 2006, is an international financial organization designed to promote the economic growth of member states, the expansion of trade and economic ties between them and the development of integration processes in the Eurasian space through carrying out investment activities. The Bank's activities are aimed both at creating conditions for sustainable economic development and deepening integration processes between the EDB member states, and at solving problems in overcoming the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis.
http://www.eabr.Org/r/research/centre/projectsCII/invest_monitoring/
http://www.eabr.Org/r/research/centre/projectsCII/projects_cii/index.php?id_4=42459&linked_block_id=0
http://www.eabr.Org/r/research/publication/makromonitor_cis/
http://www.eabr.0rg/r/research/centre/projectsCII/projects_cii/index.php?id_4=41401&linked_block_id=0
http://www.eurasiancommission.org/ru/act/finpol/dofp/Pages/default.aspx
http://economy.gov.ru/minec/about/structure/depSNG/agreement-eurasian-economic-union
For a comparative analysis of the banking systems of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, see: Ponamorenko V.E. Current state and prospects for harmonization of banking legislation of the member states of the Common Economic Space // Eurasian Legal Journal. 2014. No. 3 (70). pp. 19-25.
http://www.brics.mid.ru/brics.nsf/WEBdocBric/C9903DE836DEDC0244257D17002A789F
Stephany Griffith-Jones. A BRICS Development Bank: a dream coming true? URL:UNCTAD/OSG/DP/2014/1
Right there.
http://www.brics.mid.ru/
http://nkibrics.ru/
http://civilbrics.ru/
http://brics.tpprf.ru/ru/
http://www.leap2020.net/euro-brics/?lang=en/

Introduction

1. Organizational structure of the European system of Central banks

Conclusion

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

The current stage of economic development of the EU countries and the world economy as a whole is characterized by an increasing role of banks and banking systems and their influence on integration processes. The competitiveness of the banking system is one of the determining factors of economic development, since its high level allows for full use of the wide opportunities for attracting investment, capital and technology.

The latest trends in the internationalization of the banking and credit sector indicate that leading banks are constantly improving their forms of economic activity and methods of entering foreign markets. Currently, a unified EU banking system is being formed, with which the banking systems of other European countries cooperate. The EU banking system has already gained considerable experience in the balanced management of national banking and credit systems based on a single currency.

The study of all these problems seems relevant from the point of view of studying the role of integrated banking systems in the context of globalization. This is also extremely important for developing a strategy for the development of the Russian banking system in relation to foreign banking capital.

The purpose of this work is to study the features of the banking system of the European Union.

1.Organizational structure of the European system of Central banks

The European System of Central Banks (ESCB) is an international banking system consisting of the supranational European Central Bank (ECB) and the National Central Banks (NCBs) of the member states of the European Economic Community. The existence of this system is an integral part of the process of establishing the European Economic and Monetary Union.

In its structure, the ESCB is partly similar to the Federal Reserve System in the United States, consisting of 13 banks headed by The Bank of New-York and generally performing the role of a central bank. At the same time, the national central banks of Great Britain, Denmark, Greece and Sweden are members of the European System of Central Banks with a special status: they are not allowed to take part in decisions regarding the implementation of a common monetary policy for the euro area and implement such decisions.

The European system of central banks includes the European Central Bank and the National Central Banks of the countries participating in the euro area. The statutes of the ESCB and the ECB proclaim the independence of these organizations from other bodies of the Union, from the governments of the member countries of the EMU and any other institutions. This is quite consistent with the normal status of a central bank within a single country. At the same time, the “general principle” enshrined in a special article of the charter is of significant importance, according to which the European System of Central Banks is governed by the leadership (“decision-making bodies”) of the European Central Bank, and, above all, by the Governing Council.

The Governing Council, the supreme governing body, includes all members of the Executive Directorate and managers of the national securities of the member countries of the European Economic and Monetary Union only.

The main functions of the Board of Governors include:

Adaptation of instructions and adoption of decisions to ensure the achievement of the objectives of the creation of the European System of Central Banks;

Determination of key elements of the EEMS monetary policy, such as interest rates, the size of minimum reserves of National Central Banks, development of specific instructions for its implementation.

In addition, the Governing Council approves the rules for the internal organization of the European Central Bank and its governing bodies, acts as an adviser to the ECB and determines the manner in which it represents the European System of Central Banks in the field of international cooperation.

The Executive Directorate includes the President, Vice President and four members selected from among candidates with extensive professional experience in the financial or banking field. They are appointed from among the citizens of the EMEA member countries at a meeting of the heads of government of these countries on a proposal from the Council of Europe after consultation with the European Parliament and the Governing Council of the ECB (for subsequent elections). The Executive Directorate shall conduct monetary policy in accordance with the instructions and rules adopted by the Governing Council of the European Central Bank and thus direct the actions of the NCB, adopting departmental instructions as necessary.

The General Council, the third governing body of the European System of Central Banks, includes the President and Vice-President of the European Central Bank and the Governors of the National Central Banks of all countries of the European Economic Community, regardless of their participation in the EEAS. The General Council carries out functions that were previously carried out by the European Monetary Institute and which need to be continued in the third stage of the EMEA plan. The main tasks of the General Council include the following:

Carrying out advisory functions of the ESCB;

Collection and processing of statistical information;

Preparation of quarterly and annual reports on the activities of the ECB, as well as weekly consolidated financial statements;

Development and adoption of the necessary rules for standardization of accounting and reporting on operations carried out by the National Central Bank;

Taking measures related to the payment of the Authorized Capital of the European Central Bank to the extent not regulated by the General Agreement of the EEC;

Development of job descriptions and rules for hiring at the ECB;

The President of the European Central Bank is simultaneously the chairman of all three of its governing bodies: the Board of Governors, the Executive Directorate and the General Council; Moreover, in the first two cases, he has a decisive vote in the event of an equal distribution of votes. In addition, the President represents the ECB in external organizations or appoints a proxy for this role. In relation to third parties, he, by law, represents the ECB.

The national central banks of the member countries are an integral part of the European System of Central Banks and act in accordance with the directions and instructions of the ECB.

In organizing the activities of the European Central Bank, the institution of curators is widely and successfully used, in which each of the six members of the Executive Directorate oversees a specific area of activity of the European Central Bank.

The Governing Council of the ECB is empowered to develop monetary policy, and the Executive Directorate is responsible for implementing it. To the extent possible and appropriate, the European Central Bank shall make use of the capabilities of National Central Banks.

During the development and creation of the ESCB, preparatory work was carried out, in particular, by three committees and six specialized working groups, bringing together representatives of National Central Banks and the European Monetary Institute. This experience of close cooperation continues within the ESCB with necessary modifications.

Thirteen Committees operate under the leadership of the Board of Governors:

Committee of Internal Auditors;

Banknote Committee;

Budget Committee;

External Communications Committee;

Accounting and Cash Revenue Committee;

Legal Committee;

Market Operations Committee;

Monetary Policy Committee;

International Relations Committee;

Statistics Committee;

Banking Supervision Committee;

Information Systems Committee;

Payment and Settlement Systems Committee.

The intermediaries that allow the European Central Bank to implement a common monetary policy in the countries participating in the EMU are its authorized counterparties. Credit institutions selected for this purpose must meet a number of criteria:

Under mandatory reserve conditions, the circle of authorized counterparties is limited only to those credit institutions that have created minimum reserves;

Otherwise, the range of possible authorized counterparties extends to all credit institutions located in the euro area. The ECB has the right, on a non-discriminatory basis, to deny access to credit institutions which, by the nature of their activities, cannot be useful in the conduct of monetary policy;

The financial position of authorized counterparties must be checked by national authorities and found to be satisfactory (this provision does not apply to branches of organizations whose headquarters are located outside the European Economic Area);

Counterparties must meet any specific operational criteria established by National Central Banks or the ECB.

The main purpose of the creation of the European System of Central Banks, in accordance with Article 2 of the Statute of the ESCB and the ECB, is to maintain price stability.

In October 1998, the Governing Council of the ECB clarified the main goal of the EMEA monetary policy, indicating that the concept of “price stability” provides for the possibility of growth of the harmonized price index for consumer goods by up to 2% per year, while simultaneously defining its structure in relation to consumer goods and services .

It has been established that price stability must be maintained in the medium term, and price increases above the established value and deflation, i.e., a long-term decrease in their level, reflected by the harmonized price index for consumer goods, are unacceptable. The establishment of price stability within the framework of the EEAS corresponds to the principles that guided the National Central Banks of most countries before their unification into the Union, which ensures continuity in the conduct of monetary policy.

The Statute of the ESCB (Articles 17 to 24) defines monetary policy instruments and operations, the implementation of which will allow the system to solve the tasks assigned to it. The main instruments of the ESCB's monetary policy are: conducting open market operations, regulating the discount rate through deposit and loan transactions and establishing minimum reserve requirements for credit institutions.

The main object of regulation during these operations is the liquidity of credit institutions, which directly affects the demand and supply of money in the economy, thereby significantly affecting the rate of inflation.

The conditions for conducting these operations, which are the same for all countries participating in the euro area, provide information to money market participants about the main directions of the monetary policy of the European Economic and Monetary Union and ensure its unity.

Credit institutions that meet the following qualification requirements are allowed to operate in the UEMS: stability, effective management, and broad operational capabilities. The list of credit institutions that must meet minimum reserve requirements includes more than 8 thousand credit institutions in the Eurozone, more than 4 thousand of them have access to deposit and loan operations, and about 3 thousand participate in refinancing operations.

2. Current state of development of the EU banking system

In recent years, the banking systems of European countries have been undergoing a rather radical transformation: ultra-loose monetary policies are being implemented, many banks were forced to cease operations or were acquired, many banks are completely cutting down certain divisions, the ECB is acquiring new powers, and pan-European financial stability funds are being created. At the same time, to understand the logic of these transformations, it is necessary to understand the reasons that determined them.

In the pre-crisis years, European banks were distinguished by relatively low average return on assets (return on assets, the ratio of net profit to average assets for the period) relative to, for example, US banks or developing countries. This factor pushed European banks to look for ways to expand interest margins - both by increasing interest rates on assets and by reducing interest rates on liabilities. It should be noted that it was easier for European banks to achieve these goals than, for example, American banks, which are limited by the Glass-Steagall act in conducting securities transactions, or banks in developing countries, where corresponding restrictions are associated with the often persistent underdevelopment of the stock market infrastructure and low disposable per capita income, which does not allow him to actively invest.

The result of this situation was that debt securities and interbank financing began to play a fairly large role in the structure of liabilities of European banks, while the volumes of unsecured consumer lending, as well as long-term mortgage lending, grew at a faster pace. In parallel, direct access instruments began to increasingly compete with banks, which traditionally played a large role in financing enterprises in Europe: for example, the growth rate of the volume of issued corporate debt obligations of non-financial corporations in Europe in the pre-crisis years 1998-2008. approximately one and a half times higher than the growth rate of lending volumes. Thus, it can be stated that banks are being squeezed out of the segment of financing large non-financial corporations. In turn, this calls into question the relevance of classifying financial systems into “bank-based” and “securities market-based” in relation to the largest European countries. The development of the capital market in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy and other major European countries no longer allows for a clear boundary and forces us to look for a new criterion for classification. Such a criterion may be the degree of concentration of the banking sector, which, along with the share of large banks in it, indirectly illustrates the diversity of credit institutions within the financial system of a particular country. Thus, at the present stage of development of the financial systems of European countries, it seems more appropriate to classify them as “market with a concentrated banking sector” and “market with a fragmented banking sector.”

At the same time, it should be noted that there is a tendency towards an increase in the degree of concentration in the banking systems of European countries: even despite the accession of new countries to the EU, the number of banks over almost ten years from 2005 to October 2015 decreased from 9,465 to 8,838. To a significant extent, the increase in concentration banking systems were facilitated by the financial crisis, as a result of which banks that found themselves in a difficult financial situation became targets for takeover - examples include such large institutions as the British HBOS, the German Dresdner Bank, and the Belgian-Dutch Fortis. Another consequence of the growing concentration of banking systems in European countries is the universalization of their constituent credit institutions: this occurs both due to the competencies of acquired credit institutions and through the development of new segments of the banking business.

Taking into account financial innovations and the emergence of new financial instruments, incl. derivatives, these trends create new risks for banking systems. An important achievement of the financial markets of the last two decades has been the development of securitization, which created a new approach to risk management, implying the distribution of assumed risks, and also significantly increased the turnover of funds for long-term lending. The downside of such financial innovations was the spread of credit risk and, accordingly, the risk of incurring financial losses by many economic entities, whereas previously this risk was limited to only one entity. In combination with increasing concentration and universalization in the banking systems of European countries, these factors extend risks not only to the creditors of the issuing bank of securitized debt obligations, but also to its depositors and correspondents. Thus, a certain “side effect” of the classical function of banks as financial intermediaries is the spread of relationships, including risks, between a variety of economic entities - non-financial companies, individual depositors, banks, bondholders, mortgagees, etc. The depth and breadth of these mutual connections leads to the concept of systemic risk in the banking system, i.e. the risk of simultaneous and interdependent implementation of the usual risks inherent in banking activities for all its subjects.

In this aspect, European banks differ significantly from American banks, which, according to the Glass-Steagall Act, are initially unable to conduct such transactions with securities, and, therefore, due to its greater fragmentation and heterogeneity, the US financial system provides greater investor protection and financial stability. Since the adoption of laws similar in meaning to the Glass-Steagall Act is objectively impossible in European countries, local regulators, primarily the ECB, are forced to ensure financial stability in a different way, taking into account European specifics. This is basically the fact that the EU is not a single state, but a political-economic bloc of states that are still pursuing an independent economic policy.

Recent agreements in the EU regarding the creation of a banking union significantly increase the role of the ECB, essentially making it the center of a single monetary policy. This, together with the addition of the ECB as a regulator with special bodies monitoring systemic risk, makes it possible to solve the problem of tracking it. It should be noted that the creation of a banking union represents an important step to deepen integration processes within the EU. It seems that the activities of the banking union will contribute to greater efficiency of supervisory and regulatory institutions, ultimately increasing financial stability.

Also within the EU, an instrument was created to resolve crisis situations: the European Financial Stability Facility, whose funds have already been used to provide assistance to “problem” countries of the eurozone, and the European Financial Stability Mechanism. However, these funds are intended primarily to help states. It seems that in addition to them, the achievement of financial stability will be facilitated by the creation of a pan-European deposit insurance fund, which will solve two problems: to provide assistance with a shortage of funds in national deposit insurance funds, and also to protect foreign depositors whose deposits may not be insured by either the national system , nor the system of the bank's country of origin.

The emerging practice of dividing responsibility and costs for resolving crisis situations between regulators and investors seems to be a very effective tool: it allows one to avoid abuses that do not go beyond the limits on the part of the latter, consisting in the purchase of debt obligations or lending to banks that will obviously be supported by the state.

The signing of the European Fiscal Agreement should contribute to the introduction of common approaches to fiscal policy, but the ECB has the ability to indirectly support the principles stated in the agreement. In particular, the European Central Bank has the ability to set higher rates of reserves created against purchased debt obligations of countries that do not meet certain macroeconomic criteria. It seems that the ECB should use this instrument as actively as possible. Another, already well-known tool is operations on open markets, incl. with sovereign debt obligations of European countries.

To summarize, the following can be noted: in the post-crisis period, the degree of concentration and universalization in the banking systems of European countries has only increased, which, accordingly, leads to an increase in systemic risk. Thus, one of the key tasks of the ECB at this stage is to increase the heterogeneity of banking systems through the diversification of financial instruments used by banks, business practices, and approaches to risk management. Constant monitoring of systemic risk becomes necessary. At the same time, the ECB should become an active promoter of a single monetary policy for European countries and an active lender of last resort, providing support for the activities of national central banks. Finally, the ECB, despite some conflict with its mandate, should support the achievement of a common approach in fiscal policy, using the tools available to it to manage reserve ratios and conduct open market operations.

Conclusion

Providing the necessary conditions for the transition to a single monetary and exchange rate policy and a single currency based on the merging of national economic complexes occurs in accordance with certain objective laws.

At the same time, along with the general patterns of monetary integration, each stage has its own specific patterns. In modern conditions, monetary integration, carried out on the basis of a single European currency, creates a powerful incentive for further socio-economic unity of the EU countries. It speeds up capital flow processes and makes the banking and credit system more mobile and efficient.

THE INTRODUCTION of the single European currency created powerful preconditions for the development and deepening of the single European financial market, the development of its infrastructure and bringing its characteristics closer to the parameters of the North American one. Moreover, the increased use of the euro has increased the need for structural changes in financial markets.

1. a clearer division of service areas between monetary systems of various types;

2. changing the role of the dominant monetary system - the Central Bank;

3.carrying out a joint fight against banking risks on the basis of standardization of methods for recognizing risk factors, their systematic standardized accounting, analysis, control and forecasting.

The reliability of the European banking system, demonstrated throughout the entire period of the current financial crisis, speaks of the overall effectiveness of the model of its construction and operation.

1. Aronov A.I. New European banking system. // Expert. №4, 2015

2. Borisenko E.I. International monetary relations. M.: Norma, 2014

3. Gorlov E.N. Prospects for the European banking sector in the post-crisis period // RBC, No. 23, 2014

4. Kasimova O.I. Prospects for the European economy // Kommersant-Dengi No. 10, 2016

5. Komarova K.A. Evolution of banking systems of European countries in the post-crisis period // Industry Economics (59) UECS, 11/2015

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The payment systems of the European System of Central Banks and the European Banking Association are very important elements of the single euro area payments system. In connection with the increasingly close cooperation between Russian and European business organizations, in our opinion, a review of the formation and development of pan-European payment systems is of interest. The article examines the main components of the euro area payment systems, as well as the immediate prospects for their development. In addition, issues of legal support for European payment systems and the process of forming a common legal framework for the effective and uniform functioning of pan-European payment systems are touched upon.

History of the creation of the European Union and the European System of Central Banks

The history of the creation of the European Union goes back several decades. In 1952, several European countries agreed to combine their coal and steel production activities. One of the most important economic agreements of the 50s was the Rome Agreement (March 1957), according to which the European Economic Community (EEC) was created in 1958, of which six countries (Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy) became members. . In 1973, the EEC was replenished with three more members - Denmark, Ireland and Great Britain; Greece joined the Community in 1981, and Spain and Portugal in 1987. In 1992, the treaty establishing the European Union (EU), transformed from the EEC, was signed in Maastricht. In 1995, after the conclusion of the Maastricht Treaty, three more countries joined the EU - Austria, Finland and Sweden.

The Maastricht Treaty states that any citizen of an EU member state is a European citizen and holder of a European passport. All EU citizens enjoy the same rights.

The EU has created common interstate structures (organizations). These organizations include: Council of the EU, European Commission (EC), European Parliament, Economic and Social Affairs Committee, European Court of Justice.

However, not all countries that signed the Maastricht Agreement and joined the EU became members of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EEMU). The fact is that in order to join the EMU, applicants must meet the convergence criteria established by the Maastricht Treaty, and also express a desire to join this union.

When the Maastricht Treaty was signed, it was decided to transfer powers in the field of implementing a single monetary policy from the national central banks of the EEMS member countries to the European Central Bank (ECB), which was established on June 1, 1998. The ECB is the youngest central bank in the world, but it has inherited the reliability and experience of all national central banks in the euro area. The ECB and national central banks formed the European System of Central Banks.

EU countries that want to join the euro area will only be able to do so if they achieve convergence criteria. The ECB is required to provide an opinion on the level of convergence achieved by a country in its development indicators before it joins the euro area.

The highest decision-making body is the Council of the ECB. It consists of the Directorate of the ECB and the presidents of the national banks of issue of the member states of the euro area. The ECB Council makes decisions on the course of monetary policy, monetary policy instruments, financial infrastructure, the basic principles of cash issue, as well as on other issues of the common European monetary policy.

When voting in the ECB Council, the principle of “one participant, one vote” applies. The votes of all participants are equal, regardless of how large the economy of the country they represent is. The ECB acts as the “lead supervisor” for supranational payment systems and also as a supervisory partner for systems outside the eurozone.

The European System of Central Banks has the following objectives:

development and implementation of a unified monetary policy;
carrying out currency transactions;
storage and management of official foreign exchange reserves of the EMU member countries;
ensuring the proper functioning of payment and settlement systems.

In 1985, eighteen commercial banks and the European Investment Bank, with the support of the European Commission and the Bank for International Settlements, formed the European Banking Association (EBA - Euro Banking Association).

Over the years of its existence, the European Banking Association, in cooperation with the ECB, the Bank for International Settlements and the central banks of European countries, has made a significant contribution to improving the payment infrastructure and financial markets of the European area, improving the clearing settlement system.

In addition to the above banking organizations, the following banking unions operate in Europe:

Federation of European Banks (European Banking Federation);

Association of European Savings Banks (European Savings Banks Group);

European Association of Cooperative Banks.

In 1992, the European Committee for Banking Standards (ECBS) and the Standardization Commission were created by the Federation of European Banks, the purpose of which is to improve the technical infrastructure of banks.

Work on unifying European payment systems began in 1993, when the European Monetary Institute (predecessor of the ECB) prepared a report on minimum common conditions.

This document outlined the basic principles necessary for organizing a general system of settlements and payments. They were intended to create the same conditions for all participants (access to the system, risk prevention, legal issues, price standards for services, operating hours).

Pan-European payment systems

Currently, the pan-European settlements and payments system consists of the ECB's gross settlements system and several settlement systems that operate under the auspices of the EBA. These systems represent the most dynamically developing market for payment and settlement services 1 .

On January 1, 1999, the ECB created the TARGET system (TARGET - Trans-European Automated Real-Time Gross Settlement Express Transfer System) - a transnational automatic settlement system for large payments in real time.

TARGET is a decentralized system that is based on national real-time gross settlement systems of countries that use eurocurrency for settlements. TARGET is one of the largest and most important projects to unify the euro area.

The main goals of the TARGET system are:

creation of a reliable and secure mechanism for cross-border payments;
increasing the efficiency of payments between EU countries;
assisting the ECB in pursuing a unified monetary policy.

Three fundamental principles of the TARGET system:

1) minimalist approach;

2) decentralization;

3) market orientation.

A minimalist approach involves making maximum use of the systems and infrastructure that already exist in each EU country.

Decentralization stems from the fact that it was necessary to maintain existing banking practices in each country. The main reason for decentralization is that settlements are carried out through accounts that each of the commercial banks has with its national central bank, since commercial banks do not have accounts with the ECB.

Market orientation means that mandatory use of the TARGET system is required only for settlements of transactions related to monetary policy. Other payments can be made both through TARGET and through other payment systems.

The payment infrastructure in the euro area is characterized by the parallel existence of various European payment systems. Each member state of the European Union maintains a Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system for making payments in euros. The 16 national RTGS systems are interconnected by technical communication lines and together form the payment mechanism supported by the ECB. One of the main tasks was to create common conditions for all participating countries, so all credit institutions received the right of access to make payments through TARGET.

The TARGET system uses connecting interfaces and a connecting network between national systems and the main central network. This connecting system is built on the basis of the financial messaging system of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications - SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).

The general technical features of the TARGET system are:

use of SWIFT message formats;
combined interface between the national network and the interconnection network;
minimum requirements for ensuring system security;
general performance characteristics.

The TARGET system provides for its participants to receive additional liquid funds that can be used to make payments. Liquidity is a necessary condition for the normal functioning of the settlement system. Central banks provide all participants with interest-free intraday loans in unlimited quantities against appropriate collateral. Moreover, the loan can be used several times during the working day.

All assets used in refinancing operations are accepted as collateral. In order to unify the conditions for obtaining such loans for all countries in the euro area, a list of assets that can serve as collateral has been prepared.

Types of settlement transactions processed by TARGET:

Payments directly related to central bank operations in which the Eurosystem is involved, either on the recipient's side or on the sender's side;

Settlement operations of netting systems for large transfers operating in euros;

Payments in euros between clearing banks;

Interbank and client payments in euros.

During normal processing, all payments are treated equally, that is, there is no upper or lower limit on the size of payments.

At the end of 1998, the European Banking Association (EBA) developed a settlement system (EURO1) based on the SWIFT technical platform. The EURO1 system is designed for transferring large payments. In addition to EURO1, the EBA developed the STEP1 payment system, which was intended for the transfer of small retail payments. This system was developed as part of the overall S.T.E.P.S. program. (Straight Through Euro Payment System), which aims to provide a full range of payment services in the European and pan-European payment environment. At the end of 2000, the EBA transferred the STEP1 system to its clearing organization.

The clearing organization EBA (EBA CLEARING) was formed in June 1998, its founders were 52 of the largest European and international banks. The initial purpose of this organization was to operate the EURO1 system.

S.T.E.P.S. program continued the development of the STEP2 payment system as a pan-European automated clearing system for international and domestic mass payments in euros. At the beginning of 2003, the EBA transferred STEP2 to the EBA Clearing Organization.

These systems were developed to become the main elements for the creation of a single payment area for the euro area (SEPA - Single Euro Payments Area).

Currently, the EBA clearing organization has 70 bank shareholders. It powers the EURO1, STEP1 and STEP2 systems, which offer large and small payment transfer and clearing services to the banking community in the European Union. EBA CLEARING is constantly improving its technical and technological offerings for the provision of payment services to meet the needs of banks in a unified payment space.

Legal basis for the functioning of European payment systems

The complex of legal norms in the system of payment and settlement relations of European countries consists of the following categories:

international standards;
private law provisions;
provisions of public law.

International standards are determined by EU directives and other regulatory documents governing cross-border settlement relationships, which address:

Issues of coordination of banking law;

Services for conducting payment transactions;

Protecting the interests of payment system participants;

Functional characteristics of mutual settlements and safety of settlement funds;

Creating legal protection for participants and clients of payment systems;

Common European standards for foreign transfers;

Legal norms of final mutual settlements in payment systems;

Acceleration of foreign transfers;

Improving the transparency of payment transactions for clients;

Equality when paying for foreign transactions with the same transactions within the country;

Issues of general rules of circulation of the euro;

Securities settlement rules;

International agreements regulating the rules of bill and check circulation.

The provisions of private law are national norms that define general civil legal relations.

These may include legislation such as:

civil Code;
law on transfers;
commercial code;
check circulation law;
law on the circulation of bills;
law on general rules of economic activity.

In addition to the above legislative documents, private law also includes documents governing contracts and agreements between participants in settlements and payments, as well as general and special rules for conducting business activities.

Public law provisions are generally represented by:

Laws on the country's central bank or other body that regulates and supervises banking and financial activities in the country;

Laws on credit institutions, banking operations, financial services and transactions;

Anti-Money Laundering Law;

Various tax and payment provisions.

The rules and laws of private and public law may vary depending on the country that is part of the European Union, so special international European regulations are being developed. These documents establish the objectives of national legislation in the field of payments.

The Treaty establishing the European Union defines the main tasks of the European System of Central Banks, which are to facilitate the smooth functioning of the payments system. The Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the European Central Bank establishes that the ECB has the power to issue regulations with the aim of ensuring the efficiency and reliability of settlement and payment systems within the Community and in transactions with third countries.

The Charter of the ESCB defines one of its main tasks as ensuring the smooth functioning of payment circulation. The Governing Council of the ECB, which includes the governors of national central banks and members of the ECB's board of directors, develops a common payment policy, without making any distinction between high-value settlement systems and retail payment systems.

The technology for the functioning of pan-European payment systems is based on the document “Key Principles for Systemically Important Payment Systems” 2 . EU regulations, directives and laws governing the operation of payment systems are aimed at creating a unified system of legal relations in the EU area and implementing the principles of organizing settlements and payments set out in the documents of the Bank for International Settlements.

The operation of payment systems based on “electronic money” is regulated in special EU regulatory documents, which cover issues of terminology, operating requirements, issuer control, security and technical reliability, legal agreements, as well as other functional characteristics of electronic payment instruments.

Development of European payment systems

In May 2002, the European Payments Council (EPC) set the goal of creating a single European settlement system by 2010. In September 2005, the EPS approved uniform principles for payments using payment cards and introduced standards for credit transfers and direct debits. In December 2005, the EC adopted a directive on the provision of payment services, which eliminates legal differences in the implementation of payments.

The Directive allows payment service providers to operate across the eurozone and also streamlines the operation of payment systems. In addition, access to payment markets is opened for non-credit institutions. The Directive does not affect existing electronic settlements and payment services of post offices, as well as foreign exchange transactions, traveler's checks and collection services. Payment service providers may offer alternative payment methods and will compete with credit institutions to make payments by any means, including mobile phones and the Internet. A key element of the directive is to limit the duration of payment transactions in the eurozone to one day.

However, the directive itself will not be able to reduce the period of payment transactions even to three days without a uniform settlement standard and adequate payment infrastructure. These objectives are planned to be implemented in 2006–2007 in order to have a pan-European settlement system by 2008 and create a single European payments area (SEPA) by 2010.

Currently, European cross-border payments are based on correspondent banking relationships. Banks negotiate bilateral transactions. They strive to send payments at the lowest cost and at the same time receive as many payments as possible, thereby increasing commissions. A bank's income typically includes settlement funds, interbank commissions, currency conversion income, customer fees, and sometimes intermediary compensation.

The creation of a single European payments area is intended to change the situation in the following way. Payments under SEPA will become internal with corresponding pricing. New legislation limits the ability to generate revenue from settlement transactions and interbank commissions, so banks will now have to focus on processing payments in the most efficient and reliable way to reduce costs.

Until recently, the global correspondent banking network has undergone only minor changes. Under SEPA the situation will look significantly different. First, SEPA could encourage the global community, including governments and banks themselves, to look for ways to reduce the cost of international transfers. Secondly, for many European banks, most payments will become domestic. Thirdly, the creation of SEPA can serve as an impetus for the development of innovative business models.

Since October 2002, the TARGET system environment has been experiencing a turning point in development due to the fact that the ECB Council approved the main points of the updated version of the TARGET system. The decision of the ECB Council provides that the TARGET2 system (new version of the system) will consist of several separate and one common platform (Single Shared Platform - SSP). The European banking community also clearly spoke in favor of introducing a common platform. The start of operation of TARGET2 by the pilot group is scheduled for January 1, 2007, the transition of the remaining EU member countries to the new version of the system will be carried out during 2007.

The basis for the development of TARGET2 is determined by the task of creating a single European payment space, which involves harmonization of infrastructure, interfaces and functionality, uniformity of the management system, a common liquidity management system, as well as uniform prices. In addition, the development of the system is influenced by the expansion of the EU, which involves the use of a common platform for payment transactions for countries - new EU members 3 instead of a decentralized structure that includes national payment systems.

The modular design of TARGET2 assumes the presence of mandatory and additional modules. Mandatory modules provide a full range of services for settlements and information support for payment transactions. Additional modules allow you to conduct operations with an account at the national central bank, manage a client database, use a data warehouse (warehouse), and also provide the ability to manage minimum reserves.

Operating principles of TARGET2:

Contacts with clients are decentralized (between the lending institution and its home central bank);

Accounting, reserve management and operations related to monetary policy are carried out at the level of the national central bank.

The development of the European clearing settlement system is associated with the implementation of the Pan-European Automated Clearing House (PE-ACH) project.

When considering the different architectural models that could be installed to process bulk payments, given the needs of banks operating in the European Union and potentially using local automated clearing houses in their countries, the PE-ACH model was chosen to implement the clearing settlement system. According to the ENP definition, it was selected based on the following six criteria.

1. Speed and Reliability of Payment Processing: The centralized model provides similar domestic and international payment processing, while eliminating separation in quality (level) of service and allowing unprofitable but efficient transactions. Such a model would also be more suitable for future upgrades (redesigns) of its systems (faster sales, greater flexibility).

2. Liquidity efficiency: An efficient model allows financial institutions to optimize their use of liquidity.

3. Levels of operating expenses: the centralized model allows you to achieve the lowest costs through the highest savings measures.

4. Level of Investment and Ease of Implementation: The PE-ACH model is expected to be the cheapest, have the least complexity, and can be implemented in the shortest amount of time.

5. Potential for Integration: The PE-ACH model is best positioned to facilitate the progressive integration of local systems into a single future-proof structure, while preserving the capital investments already made by local automated clearinghouses.

6. Degree of openness: the right approach to corporate governance guarantees open legal access to all financial institutions of the European Union.

The ECB constantly monitors new technological developments in the field of payment systems in order to build the European settlements and payments system in accordance with the most advanced scientific and technological advances. For research purposes, a special unit has been created within the ECB - the Center for Observation of Electronic Payment Systems (ePSO - e-PAYMENT SYSTEMS OBSERVATORY) 4 .

The objectives of the ePSO are:

Development of information exchanges in the field of electronic payment systems;

Monitoring developments in this area;

Using the information obtained as a basis for monetary policy.

1 Information on the development and functioning of EU payment systems is presented on the basis of materials and publications posted on the official websites of the ECB (www.ecb.int) and EBA (www.abe.org). This article does not cover systems based on payment cards, currency exchange and securities settlements.

2 See: Report of the working group on the principles and practical aspects of payment systems of the Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems at the Bank for International Settlements “Key principles for systemically important payment systems” // Bulletin of the Bank of Russia, 2002, No. 18–19.

3 The enlargement of the European Union continued until May 2004, with 10 new countries becoming members: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia. The last one to join the TARGET system was the RTGS system of the Central Bank of Poland (SORBNET-EURO) in March 2005.

4 More details about the functioning of the ESB Electronic Payment Systems Observation Center can be found on its official website (www.e-pso.info).

CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 3
Formation of a unified banking system of the European Union 5
Structure of the European Union banking system 8
European Central Bank and Eurosystem 10
Goals and functions of the European Central Bank. ECB monetary policy 13
CONCLUSION 16

INTRODUCTION

Banks and the banking system as a whole represent an important component of market relations.
In modern models of a market economy, the state banking system plays a leading role in the functioning of the economic mechanism. It represents, in essence, the “circulatory system” of the economy, ensures regulation of the total money supply, controls the movement of financial flows, accumulates and invests monetary resources, conducts mutual settlements between economic entities, lends to various sectors of the economy and the population.
In countries with developed market economies, banking systems were formed quite a long time ago. So banks, as monetary and financial enterprises in Western Europe, began to emerge in the 15th century.
The creation of the European Union (EU) required closer coordination of the monetary and exchange rate policies of these states and the creation of a collective mechanism for currency regulation, firstly, in order to minimize transaction costs in the process of mutual trade and economic cooperation and, secondly, to increase efficiency money in the territory of the integrated economic space performs the functions of a measure of value, a medium of exchange and a means of payment.
Providing the necessary conditions for the transition to a single monetary and exchange rate policy and a single currency based on the merging of national economic complexes occurs in accordance with certain objective laws.
At the same time, along with the general patterns of monetary integration, each stage has its own specific patterns. In modern conditions, monetary integration, carried out on the basis of a single European currency, creates a powerful incentive for further socio-economic unity of the EU countries. It speeds up capital flow processes and makes the banking and credit system more mobile and efficient.
Monetary integration in the EU has a particularly strong impact on the banking system of the member countries. Here are the consequences:

Formation of a unified banking system of the European Union

The structure of the banking systems of the euro area countries began to change already in the first half of the 90s. XX century These changes occurred not only under the influence of the formation of a common currency, but also under the influence of economic globalization processes.
The main areas of change in the banking systems of the euro area countries include the following:

The growing capitalization of European banks and increasing cash flows create favorable conditions for the development of bank mergers and acquisitions. An analysis of bank mergers and acquisitions carried out over the last five years in European countries allows us to come to the following conclusions.
The restructuring of banking systems in European countries was mainly of a “defensive” nature, i.e. was aimed more at preventing the threats associated with financial deregulation and globalization, rather than at taking advantage of the opportunities this created.
Strengthening the positions of banks in national markets in most European countries inevitably requires increased internationalization of their activities.
The international activities of European banks are also focused on the United States and the rapidly developing countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
One of the factors complicating the formation of a unified “banking Europe” is the insufficient development of legal norms for regulating banking systems and financial markets. The European Central Bank, which seeks to operate in all European countries, must contend with thirty national laws and banking regulators. In such conditions, it is especially difficult for retail banks, whose activities are subject to the most stringent regulation.
Currently, European banks are multifunctional institutions that carry out different types of activities in a wide variety of combinations. At the same time, the prospects for internationalization are more favorable for some types of activities than for other types.
In general, the strategy of banks in the coming years will be influenced by the introduction of new rules of the game associated with the entry into force of the new capital adequacy agreement (Basel II).
The European banking system in the process of integration acquires new qualitative features. In the context of globalization, it is increasingly turned into the world economy. In order to meet new realities, European banks are working to improve operational efficiency, increase the capital base, expand financial instruments, strengthen liquidity, and concentrate banking capital.
An important feature of the development of European banks in recent years is the leadership of relatively small banks in the share of foreign assets, as well as in the share of profits earned abroad. Their leadership, among other things, is explained by a strategy aimed at developing activities outside the national market. This strategy is due to the fact that these banks do not have competitive advantages over giant banks for development within the country. A striking example is the activities of Austrian banks in Central and Eastern Europe. The rapid advance of Austrian banks (Raiffeisen Bank, Bank Austria Creditanstalt and Erste Bank) in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe is explained by their relative weakness in the EU market, where they cannot compete with banking giants (Deutsche Bank, HSC, UBC, Societe Generale, etc.).

Structure of the European Union banking system

There are two points of view on the structure of the EU banking system:

The main institutional structure within which all “monetary” components of the Economic and Monetary Union operate and which determines and implements the common monetary policy of the European Community, in accordance with the EU Treaty, is the European System of Central Banks.
In accordance with Art. 107 of the EU Treaty, the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) covers the European Central Bank and the central banks of the Member States. The creation of the ESCB is associated with the formation of the Economic and Monetary Union, with the replacement of national currencies with a single common currency - the euro.
The ESCB is governed by the governing bodies of the ECB. The ESCB is not a legal entity.
In accordance with Art. 14.3 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and the European Central Bank, national central banks are an integral part of the ESCB. They are obliged to act in accordance with the main guidelines and instructions of the ESCB. National banks cannot independently go beyond the powers granted to them by the Statute of the ESCB. In order for them to exercise other functions, the Governing Council of the ECB must decide, by two-thirds of its votes, that they do not diverge from the aims and objectives of the ESCB (Article 14.4 of the ESCB Statute). Such functions are performed by them on their own responsibility and are not considered part of the functions of the ESCB.
The functioning of the European System of Central Banks is ensured by the European Central Bank. The European Central Bank is, in accordance with the Treaty and the Statute of the ESCB, an independent central bank. Unlike the ESCB, the ECB is a legal entity. He has his own property and capital.
In accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 111 of the Treaty, the governing bodies of the ECB are the Governing Council and the Executive Committee. In addition, since as long as there are member states with an exemption, a General Council is established.

European Central Bank and Eurosystem

Twelve national central banks, including the Bank of France, the Bank of Italy, the Bank of Spain, the Netherlands Bank, the National Bank of Belgium, the Austrian National Bank, the Bank of Greece, the Bank of Portugal, the Bank of Finland, the Central Bank of Ireland, the Central Bank of Luxembourg, the Bundesbank of Germany, as well as The European Central Bank (ECB), located in Frankfurt am Main, together form the Eurosystem. The structure of the European central banking system is shown in the diagram below.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
Bank of Italy
BOARD OF GOVERNERS
Bank of France
Central Bank of Ireland
National Bank of Denmark
Bank of England
Bank of Finland
Bank of Portugal
National Bank of Austria
Bank of the Netherlands
Central Bank of Luxembourg
National Bank of Belgium
Bundesbank of Germany
Bank of Greece
Bank of Spain
Central Bank of Sweden

The term "Eurosystem" was chosen by the Governing Council of the ECB to explain the arrangement (arrangement) through which the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) carries out its tasks in the euro area. Until some EU members introduce a single currency, the euro, the difference between the Eurosystem and the ESCB will remain.
In addition to the contributed capital, 12 EMU National Central Banks transferred foreign exchange reserves in the amount of 40 billion euros to ECB accounts. The transfer of foreign exchange reserves was also carried out in proportion to each country's share in the capital of the ECB. In return, each national central bank was credited by the ECB with euro-equivalent monetary claims for their additional foreign exchange deposit.
The ECB represents a unique organizational structure that has no analogues in world practice. The uniqueness lies in the fact that one system combines qualitatively different structures: centralized and decentralized.
The Eurosystem and the ESCB are governed by those bodies of the European Central Bank that have decision-making powers. These bodies are:

The highest level of the ECB is the Governing Council, which consists of 18 people and includes all members of the Executive Committee (6 people) and the governors of all 12 NCBs of the Eurosystem.
The Board of Governors has the following functions:

The Board of Governors meets in the city of Frankfurt am Main, usually twice a month; Meetings of the Board of Governors of the EU NCBs are also allowed. When making decisions on major issues of monetary policy or other tasks of the Eurosystem, Council members act not as representatives of national banks, but as independent professionals on the principle of “one member, one vote”. The decision is considered adopted if at least 2/3 of the Council members vote for it.
In accordance with Art. 112 of the EU Treaty (hereinafter referred to as the Treaty) The Executive Committee consists of the President, Vice-President and four other members. However, Art. 123 of the Treaty provides that if there are Member States with an exemption, the total number of members of the Executive Committee may be less, but not less than four. Unless otherwise provided by the Treaty or the Statute of the ESCB, the Executive Committee takes decisions by a simple majority of votes. In the event of a tie, the President has the casting vote.
The Executive Committee implements monetary policy in accordance with the main guidelines and decisions taken by the Governing Council. In carrying out this activity, the Executive Committee gives the necessary instructions to the national central banks. However, in accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 12.1 of the Statute of the ESCB, these powers can be supplemented by the transfer by the Governing Council of part of its powers to the Executive Committee.
In the area of its competence, in accordance with Art. 34 of the ESCB Statute, the ECB has the right to adopt a number of legal acts: regulations, decisions, recommendations and conclusions. ECB regulations are of general application. They are mandatory and directly applicable in all member states. Recommendations and conclusions are non-binding. In turn, ECB decisions are individual acts and are binding on those to whom they are addressed. For failure of legal entities to comply with the requirements of regulations and decisions of the ECB, the European Central Bank has the right to impose fines or penalties on them.

Goals and functions of the European Central Bank. Monetary policy of the ECB

The main goal of the European Central Bank is to maintain price stability in the euro area. Other goals and functions of the ECB:

The most important function of the ECB is to develop and implement a single and independent monetary policy for the countries of the Eurozone.
In relation to the European Union, monetary policy is carried out at two levels: the first level is, of course, a single independent monetary policy, which is developed and implemented by the ECB; the second level is the level of national states, members of the European Union, at which their national central banks together with their governments
etc.................

EU banking system. European system of central banks

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Development of banking integration in the European Union and the Eurozone.

History of the creation of the European Union and the European System of Central Banks

Pan-European payment systems

Legal basis for the functioning of European payment systems

Development of European payment systems

INTRODUCTION

Formation of a unified banking system of the European Union

Structure of the European Union banking system

European Central Bank and Eurosystem

Goals and functions of the European Central Bank. Monetary policy of the ECB