Recital 1

(1)At the request of the Commission, a report was published on 25 February 2009 by a High-Level Group chaired by Jacques de Larosière and concluded that the supervisory framework of the financial sector of the Union needed to be strengthened to reduce the risk and severity of future financial crises and recommended far-reaching reforms to the structure of supervision of that sector, including the creation of a European System of Financial Supervisors, comprising three European supervisory authorities, one each for the banking, the insurance and occupational pensions and the securities and markets sectors, and the creation of a European Systemic Risk Council.