Nordic, Baltic countries sign financial stability cooperation agreement
The ministries, central banks, financial supervision authorities and crisis resolution institutions of the Nordic and Baltic countries have signed a cooperation agreement of mutual understanding on the organization of cooperation concerning cross-border financial stability.
"The larger banks operating in Estonia have Scandinavian roots, and their solvency among other things also depends on good cooperation between the Nordic financial supervision and crisis resolution authorities and their banks," Kilvar Kessler, chairman of the management board of the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority (EFSA), said in a press release.
"For the stability of the Estonian financial market, the Financial Supervision Authority needs to exchange information and plan and execute joint activities with its Nordic colleagues," Kissler said, adding that this cooperation agreement is an important brick in the structure of Nordic-Baltic financial supervision and crisis resolution.
"The agreement is a sign of the good cooperation between the Baltic and the Nordic countries, which we highly value," said Ministry of Finance Deputy Secretary-General for Financial Policy and External Relations Marten Ross. "Joint meetings and information exchange enable us to regularly receive information about possible market failures, which could endanger the financial stability of the entire region, and to respond to them quickly, if needed."
Financial crisis cooperation has been previously agreed upon in the EU with a separate directive. Among other things, the directive also stipulates the formation of crisis resolution colleges consisting of member state representatives for larger banking groups. The aim of the agreement in question is to further reaffirm the readiness for financial stability-related cooperation in the Nordic-Baltic region, as banking is very strongly linked between countries there.
The parties of the cooperation agreement include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The agreement was signed by Jan. 31.
Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS