Opinion of the European Central Bank of 7 August 2013 on the financial statements register (CON/2013/58)

OPINION OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK of 7 August 2013 on the financial statements register (CON/2013/58) Introduction and legal basis

On 4 July 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) received a request from the Slovak Ministry of Finance for an opinion on a draft law amending Law No 431/2002 on accounting and amending some laws (hereinafter the ‘draft law’). The ECB’s competence to deliver an opinion is based on Articles 127(4) and 282(5) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and the third indent of Article 2(1) of Council Decision 98/415/EC of 29 June 1998 on the consultation of the European Central Bank by national authorities regarding draft legislative provisions , as the draft law relates to Národná banka Slovenska (NBS). In accordance with the first sentence of Article 17.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank, the Governing Council has adopted this opinion.

1. Purpose of the draft law

The draft law, inter alia, continues the legislative process of finalising and improving the financial statements register . The draft law provides that the financial statements register will also include annual reports . As a consequence, entities supervised by NBS will register their annual reports centrally, instead 4 5 of submitting them to NBS . Some of these entities will also register their auditors’ reports centrally . The non-public section of the register will include documents of supervised branches of foreign entities ; NBS will have access to them . The supervised entities’ interim financial statements will no longer be 8 9 registered , but submitted to NBS .

2. Interim financial reporting

The ECB considers that the consulting authority should ensure that investors have direct access to information regarding interim financial statements, both individual and consolidated, prepared by listed entities. The ECB believes that, as regards listed entities, periodic financial reporting is an important data source that assists investors in making more informed investment decisions and supports efficient capital allocation.

This opinion will be published on the ECB’s website.

Done at Frankfurt am Main, 7 August 2013.

[signed]

The Vice-President of the ECB

Vítor CONSTÂNCIO