Governor’s meetings in Brussels 27-28 September 2016

On 27 and 28 September, Governor Már Guðmundsson gave two speeches in Brussels, as well as meeting with the Board of the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) and high-ranking officials of the European Commission in the fields of economics and financial markets. The discussion focused in particular on capital controls and macroprudential tools.

The Governor was a keynote speaker at an EFTA seminar held on 27 September. The seminar centred on the problems for banking systems and financial stability that arise from participation in the internal market without participation in the banking union. The agenda and a description of the seminar can be found on the EFTA website (see Policy Seminar: Half in – half out of the Banking Union). The Governor’s speech was entitled, “Half in – half out: What are the risks for small, open, and financially integrated economies?”

On 28 September, the Governor spoke at a closed ESA seminar, where he discussed capital account liberalisation and systemic risk in Iceland (see: Lifting capital controls in Iceland). In connection with the ESA seminar, he had a special meeting with the ESA Board. On the previous day, he had two meetings with high-ranking European Commission officials, Olivier Guersent, Director-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), and Servaas Deroose, Deputy Director-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). Discussions at these meetings centred mainly on the implementation and liberalisation of capital controls and the prudential rules that have been introduced or are planned with the aim of promoting financial stability in an environment of unrestricted movement of capital.

No. 25/2016
14. October 2016