Single Supervisory Mechanism

Transparency

The supervisory competencies of the European Central Bank (ECB) are accompanied by stringent transparency and accountability requirements. The Interinstitutional Agreement between the European Parliament and the European Central Bank, 2013/694/EU, of 7 November, sets out the practical modalities of the democratic accountability the ECB must provide before the European Parliament, the democratically legitimised political institution which represents the European Union member States and their citizens.

This agreement ensures an unprecedented degree of supervisory transparency in the following forms, among others:

• The establishment of the safeguards that the Parliament implemented in relation to the level of sensitivity of the information provided by the ECB, in order to ensure its confidentiality.
• The presentation of detailed and complete information on the supervisory procedures of the SSM, updates on their implementation in practice and their findings through annual and quarterly reports which the ECB transmits to Parliament and in response to queries by Parliament, which the ECB must answer in writing.