ECB proposes simplification of EU banking rules

11 December 2025

The European Central Bank (ECB) today published the recommendations of the Governing Council's High-Level Task Force on Simplification, established in March 2025, to simplify the European  regulatory, supervisory and reporting framework. These recommendations were endorsed by the Governing Council and will be presented to the European Commission, which is preparing a report on the overall situation of the European banking system to be presented in 2026.

These proposals are intended to simplify the framework, while maintaining the resilience of the European banking system and ensuring that microprudential, macroprudential and resolution authorities continue to meet their objectives effectively.

The ECB has also published a report entitled 'Streamlining supervision, safeguarding resilience', which discusses the ongoing agenda of the Single Supervisory Mechanism to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and risk focus of European banking supervision. The initiatives described in this report complement the Governing Council's recommendations and can be fully implemented independently of these recommendations.

Finally, the ECB welcomes the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB)'s report on the simplification of its tasks published today.