Decision of the European Central Bank of 31 December 2010 on the paying-up of capital, transfer of foreign reserve assets and contributions by Eesti Pank to the European Central Bank’s reserves and provisions (ECB/2010/34) (2011/23/EU)

Decision of the European Central Bank

of 31 December 2010

on the paying-up of capital, transfer of foreign reserve assets and contributions by Eesti Pank to the European Central Bank’s reserves and provisions

(ECB/2010/34)

(2011/23/EU)

THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK,

Having regard to the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’), and in particular Articles 30.1, 30.3, 48.1 and 48.2 thereof,

Whereas:

(1) Pursuant to Article 1 of Council Decision 2010/416/EU of 13 July 2010 in accordance with Article 140(2) of the Treaty on the adoption by Estonia of the euro on 1 January 2011(1), Estonia fulfils the necessary conditions for adoption of the euro and the derogation granted to it pursuant to Article 4 of the 2003 Act of Accession(2) will be abrogated with effect from 1 January 2011.

(2) Article 48.1 of the Statute of the ESCB provides that the national central bank (NCB) of a Member State whose derogation has been abrogated must pay up its subscribed share of the capital of the European Central Bank (ECB) to the same extent as the NCBs of the other Member States whose currency is the euro. The weighting of Eesti Pank in the ECB’s capital key is 0,1790 %, pursuant to Article 2 of Decision ECB/2008/23 of 12 December 2008 on the national central banks’ percentage shares in the key for subscription to the European Central Bank’s capital(3). Eesti Pank has already paid up part of its share in the ECB’s subscribed capital, pursuant to Article 1 of Decision ECB/2010/28 of 13 December 2010 on the paying-up of the European Central Bank’s capital by the non-euro area national central banks(4).

(3) Pursuant to Article 1 of Decision ECB/2010/26 of 13 December 2010 on the increase of the European Central Bank’s capital(5) the ECB’s capital has been increased by EUR 5 000 000 000 from EUR 5 760 652 402,58 to EUR 10 760 652 402,58 with effect from 29 December 2010. Pursuant to Article 1 of Decision ECB/2010/27 of 13 December 2010 on the paying-up of the increase of the European Central Bank’s capital by the national central banks of Member States whose currency is the euro(6) the increased capital must be paid up in three equal annual instalments.

(4) Accordingly, Eesti Pank should pay up the remaining parts of its share in the ECB’s subscribed capital, which correspond to EUR 18 539 259,01 as follows: on 3 January 2011 an amount of EUR 9 589 259,01 which results from multiplying the ECB’s subscribed capital on 28 December 2010 (EUR 5 760 652 402,58) by the capital key weighting of Eesti Pank (0,1790 %), minus the part of its share in the ECB’s subscribed capital that has already been paid up in accordance with Decision ECB/2010/27 and a further amount of EUR 8 950 000,0 which results from multiplying the amount of the increase of the ECB’s subscribed capital (EUR 5 000 000 000) by the capital key weighting of Eesti Pank. Eesti Pank should pay the latter amount in three equal instalments. The first instalment is to be paid up together with the amount of EUR 9 589 259,01 and the other two instalments of EUR 2 983 333,33 each two business days before the last TARGET2 operating day of 2011 and 2012.

(5) Article 48.1, in conjunction with Article 30.1, of the Statute of the ESCB provides that the NCB of a Member State whose derogation has been abrogated must also transfer foreign reserve assets to the ECB. Pursuant to Article 48.1 of the Statute of the ESCB, the sum to be transferred is determined by multiplying the euro value at current exchange rates of the foreign reserve assets which have already been transferred to the ECB in accordance with Article 30.1 of the Statute of the ESCB, by the ratio between the number of shares subscribed by the NCB concerned and the number of shares already paid up by the NCBs of the other Member States whose currency is the euro. When determining the ‘foreign reserve assets which have already been transferred to the ECB in accordance with Article 30.1’, due account should be taken of previous capital key adjustments(7) pursuant to Article 29.3 of the Statute of the ESCB and the ECB capital key expansions pursuant to Article 48.3 of the Statute of the ESCB(8). As a result, pursuant to Decision ECB/2008/27 of 12 December 2008 laying down the measures necessary for the contribution to the European Central Bank’s accumulated equity value and for adjusting the national central banks’ claims equivalent to the transferred foreign reserve assets(9), the euro equivalent of the foreign reserve assets which have already been transferred to the ECB pursuant to Article 30.1 of the Statute of the ESCB is EUR 145 853 596,6.

(6) The foreign reserve assets to be transferred by Eesti Pank should be in or be denominated in Japanese yen and gold.

(7) Article 30.3 of the Statute of the ESCB provides that the ECB must credit each NCB of a Member State whose currency is the euro with a claim equivalent to the foreign reserve assets that it has transferred to the ECB. The provisions regarding the denomination and remuneration of the claims that have already been credited to the NCBs of the Member States whose currency is the euro(10) should also apply to the denomination and remuneration of the claims of Eesti Pank.

(8) Article 48.2 of the Statute of the ESCB provides that the NCB of a Member State whose derogation has been abrogated must contribute to the ECB’s reserves, to those provisions equivalent to reserves, and to the amount still to be appropriated to the reserves and provisions corresponding to the balance of the profit and loss account as at 31 December of the year prior to abrogation of the derogation. The amount of this contribution is determined in accordance with Article 48.2 of the Statute of the ESCB.

(9) By analogy with Article 3.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank(11), the Governor of Eesti Pank has had the opportunity to make observations on this Decision before its adoption,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

(1)

OJ L 196, 28.7.2010, p. 24.

(2)

Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Czech Republic, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Cyprus, the Republic of Latvia, the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Hungary, the Republic of Malta, the Republic of Poland, the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded (OJ L 236, 23.9.2003, p. 33).

(3)

OJ L 21, 24.1.2009, p. 66.

(4)

See page 56 of this Official Journal.

(5)

See page 53 of this Official Journal.

(6)

See page 54 of this Official Journal.

(7)

Decision ECB/2003/17 of 18 December 2003 on the national central banks’ percentage shares in the key for subscription to the European Central Bank’s capital (OJ L 9, 15.1.2004, p. 27), and Decision ECB/2008/23 of 12 December 2008 on the national central banks’ percentage shares in the key for subscription to the European Central Bank’s capital (OJ L 21, 24.1.2009, p. 66).

(8)

Decision ECB/2004/5 of 22 April 2004 on the national central banks’ percentage shares in the key for subscription to the European Central Bank’s capital (OJ L 205, 9.6.2004, p. 5) and Decision ECB/2006/21 of 15 December 2006 on the national central banks’ percentage shares in the key for subscription to the European Central Bank’s capital (OJ L 24, 31.1.2007, p. 1).

(9)

OJ L 21, 24.1.2009, p. 77.

(10)

Pursuant to Guideline ECB/2000/15 of 3 November 1998 as amended by the Guideline of 16 November 2000 on the composition, valuation and modalities for the initial transfer of foreign-reserve assets, and the denomination and remuneration of equivalent claims (OJ L 336, 30.12.2000, p. 114).

(11)

Decision ECB/2004/2 of 19 February 2004 adopting the Rules of Procedure of the European Central Bank (OJ L 80, 18.3.2004, p. 33).