Consultation on amendment to Implementing Technical Standards on Supervisory Disclosure

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today launched a public consultation on its draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory disclosures. The amended draft ITS incorporate the changes to the EU legal framework, in particular those related to supervisory reporting and investment firms.  

These draft amending ITS aim at specifying the format, structure, contents list and annual publication date of the supervisory information to be disclosed by competent authorities. The amendments to the ITS aim to reflect the changes to the EU legal framework under (Capital Requirements Regulation) CRR2 and Capital Requirements Directive (CRD V), in particular those related to supervisory reporting for investment firms.  

Moreover, by amending the existing supervisory disclosure framework, the draft ITS shall enhance the quality and comparability of the reported data by supervisors and enhance transparency by providing the market with more information. 

Consultation process 

Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 9 March 2023. All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise. 

A public hearing will be organised in the form of a webinar on 28 February 2023 from 14:00 to 15:00 CET. The EBA invites interested stakeholders to register using this link by 24 February at 12:00 CET.  

The dial-in details will be communicated in due course. 

Legal basis and next steps 

The ITS on supervisory disclosure have been developed in accordance with Article 143 of the CRD, which mandates the EBA to specify the format, structure, contents list and annual publication date of the information competent authorities shall publish on rules and guidance, options and discretions, general criteria and methodologies for the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP) and aggregate statistical data on key aspects of the implementation of the prudential framework.  

The amendments reflect changes resulting from the legislation adopting the banking package under Directive (EU) 2019/878 amending Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD V) and Regulation (EU) 2019/876 amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR2). 

 The former final draft ITS were published in the EU Official Journal on 15 March 2021.

Consultation on the ITS on Supervisory Reporting with regard to IRRBB reporting

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting with respect to IRRBB. Proportionality is a key consideration in the proposed new reporting, in order to make reporting requirements better suited to the size and risk of the institutions.  The consultation runs until 2 May 2023. 

These draft amending ITS aim at providing quality data to supervisors to monitor institutions’ IRBB risk and the implementation of the policy package published by the EBA in October 2022. The reporting package under consultation is particularly relevant in the current environment of high inflation combined with growing interest rates. Proportionality has been a key consideration when developing this package, building on the evidence and recommendations drawn from the EBA Cost of Compliance study. In this regard, the consultation paper includes simplified templates for the reporting by small and non-complex institutions (SNCIs) and asks for specific feedback on proportionality for medium institutions.

Consultation process

Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 2 May 2023. All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise.

A public hearing will be organised in the form of a webinar on 15 March 2023 from 14:00 to 16:00 CET. The EBA invites interested stakeholders to register using this link by 13 March at 16:00 CET.

The dial-in details will be communicated in due course

Legal basis and next steps

These draft ITS have been developed in accordance with Article 430(7) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, which mandates the EBA to develop uniform formats, definitions, frequencies and reference and remittance dates and IT solutions. These draft ITS has also follow up on the policy work on IRRBB that the EBA completed in October 2022.

The EBA expects to submit these draft ITS to the European Commission in mid 2023. The expected application of the revised requirements is for 30 June 2024 reporting reference date. 

Consultation on draft Guidelines on the overall recovery capacity in recovery planning

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published a consultation paper on its draft Guidelines on the overall recovery capacity (ORC) in recovery planning. The Guidelines aim to set up a consistent framework for the determination of the ORC by institutions in their recovery plans and the respective assessment by competent authorities. The consultation runs until 14 March 2023. 

The objective of the ORC is to provide a summary of the overall capability of the institution to restore its financial position after a significant deterioration by implementing suitable recovery options. The assessment by competent authorities of an institution’s overall recovery capacity allows to understand to what extent an institution would be able to recover from a range of potential crisis situations.

The main goal of the Guidelines is to harmonise the observed practices on the ORC determination and assessment, so as to improve the usability of recovery plans and make crisis preparedness more effective.

The Guidelines are composed of two sections. The first one addressed to institutions, aims at providing guidance on the relevant steps to set-up a reliable ORC framework. The second one, addressed to competent authorities, complements the framework by harmonising the core elements of the competent authorities’ assessment of the ORC from both a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

Consultation process

Responses to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 14 March 2023.

public hearing will take place via conference call on 14 February 2023 from 9:30 to 11:30 (CET).

Legal basis and next steps

The EBA has developed the draft Guidelines on its own initiative, in accordance with Article 16 of its founding Regulation, which mandates the Authority to issue guidelines and recommendations addressed to competent authorities or financial institutions with a view to establishing consistent, efficient and effective supervisory practices within the ESFS, and to ensuring the common, uniform and consistent application of Union law. 

Consultation on ITS on amending Commission Implementing Regulation on benchmarking of internal models

The European Banking Authority (EBA) publishes today a consultation paper to amend the Implementing Regulation on the benchmarking of credit risk, market risk and IFRS9 models for the 2024 exercise. The most significant change is the roll out of the data collection for the benchmarking of accounting metrics (IFRS9) to high default portfolios (HDP). For market risk it is proposed to add new templates for the collection of additional information, notably the Default Risk Charge (DRC) and the Residual Risk Add-On (RRAO). For credit risk, only minor changes are proposed.   

The EBA benchmarking exercise forms the basis for both, supervisory assessment and horizontal analysis on the outcome of internal models. It ensures consistent monitoring of the variability of own funds requirements resulting from the application of internal models as well as on the impact of the several different supervisory and regulatory measures, which influence the capital requirements and solvency ratios in the EU.

Changes to the IFRS9 benchmarking

  1. For the IFRS9 benchmarking, following the staggered approach presented in the IFRS 9 roadmap, it is now proposed to gradually extend the data collection and following benchmarking analysis to HDP. The EBA is proposing to introduce changes to the Annexes of the ITS to specify the new portfolios that will fall under the scope of the 2024 exercise and the set of quantitative templates that will be used to collect all the relevant quantitative information.

Changes to the market risk and credit risk benchmarking

  1. As regards the market risk benchmarking, the most important change is the provision of new templates for the collection of the Default Risk Charge (DRC) and the Residual Risk Add-On (RRAO).
  2. For the credit risk benchmarking, the EBA is proposing to add a limited number of HDP to ensure the credit risk and the IFRS9 templates relate to a common list of portfolios for which the metrics specified in the different templates should be reported.

Consultation process

Responses to the consultations can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page.

All contributions received will be published after the consultation closes, unless requested otherwise. The deadline for the submission of comments is 28 February 2023.

A public hearing on this consultation will take place on the 9 February 2023 from 14:00 to 16:00 CET. Deadline for registration is 6 February at 16:00 CET.

Legal basis

These draft ITS have been developed in accordance with article 78 of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), which requires the EBA to specify the benchmarking portfolios, templates and definitions to be used as part of the annual benchmarking exercises. The latter are used by competent authorities to conduct an annual assessment of the quality of internal approaches used for the calculation of own funds requirements.

Consultation on effective management of ML/TF risks when providing access to financial services

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on new Guidelines on the effective management of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF) risks when providing access to financial services. Through these Guidelines, the EBA aims to ensure that customers, especially the most vulnerable ones, are not denied access to financial services without valid reason. This consultation runs until 6 February 2023.

Access to at least basic financial products and services is a prerequisite for organisations and individuals to participate in modern economic and social life. It can also save the lives of vulnerable customers, such as refugees or homeless people. However, such access is not always ensured.

To address this, the EBA is launching for public consultation on two new sets of Guidelines. The first set is adding a new section to the EBA’s ML/TF risk factors Guidelines, which set out what financial institutions should do to identify and tackle ML/TF risk. This new section will help financial institutions understand how NPOs are organised, how they can be different from other customers and what they can do to manage ML/TF risks associated with such customers effectively instead of denying them access to financial services.

The second set tackles the issue of effective management of ML/TF risks by financial institutions when providing access to financial services. These Guidelines clarify the interaction between the access to financial services and institutions’ AML/CFT obligations, including in situation where customers, including the most vulnerable, have legitimate reasons to be unable to provide traditional forms of identity documentation. In addition, they set out the steps institutions should take when considering whether to refuse or terminate a business relationship with a customer based on ML/TF risk or AML/CFT compliance grounds.

Consultation process

Comments to the consultations can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the respective consultation pages. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 6 February 2023.

public hearing will take place via conference call on Tuesday 10 of January from 14:00 to 15:30.

All contributions received will be published following the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise.

Legal basis and background

These Guidelines have been developed in response to the European Commission’s request following the publication of the EBA’s Opinion on de-risking. They build on the EBA Opinion on the application of customer due diligence measures to customers who are asylum seekers from higher-risk third countries or territories issued in 2016 and on the statement the EBA issued in the context of the war in Ukraine. They are also in line with the EBA’s legal mandate to lead, coordinate and monitor the EU financial sector’s fight against ML/TF.

Consultation Paper on Guidelines amending Guidelines EBA/GL/2022/01 on improving resolvability for institutions and resolution authorities

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today launched a public consultation on its draft Guidelines addressed to institutions and resolution authorities on resolvability testing. The Guidelines aim to set-out a framework to ensure that resolvability capabilities developed to comply with the resolvability and transferability Guidelines are fit for purpose and effectively maintained. The consultation runs until 15 February 2023. 

Resolution authorities and banks should now move to the resolvability testing following several years of policy development by authorities and policy implementation by institutions. Both now need to ensure that the arrangements put in place to support the execution of the resolution strategy are in fact adequate and that institutions will be ready to use those in the run-up to and upon entry into resolution.

The Guidelines are also aiming to promote the involvement of firms into the resolvability assessment process and increase they ownership of resolvability. As such, as a starting point, they propose that institutions submit a resolvability self-assessment annually where to set out how they will meet the resolvability capabilities and how they have gained assurance of their adequacy.

On the basis of this self-assessment, the Guidelines are proposing that authorities develop multi-annual testing programme so as to gain assurance of firms’ resolvability while providing sufficient visibility to banks.

Finally, for the most complex banks, the Guidelines are proposing to have them develop a master playbook to ensure a holistic approach to resolution planning.

Consultation process

Responses to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 15 February 2023.

public hearing will take place via conference call on 11 January 2023 from 9:30 to 11:30 (CET).

Note to the editors

The EBA has started several initiatives aiming to harmonise the approach to resolvability at EU-27 level and ensure the implementation of international standards on the matter. These draft Guidelines complement the already published Guidelines for institutions and resolution authorities on improving banks’ resolvability and the draft Guidelines on transferability. Further work is underway on the topic of resolvability transparency and resolvability in steady state.

Consultation on draft RTS on the determination by originator institutions of the exposure value of SES in securitisations

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the determination by originator institutions of the exposure value of synthetic excess spread (SES) in securitisations.  The Capital Markets Recovery Package (CMRP) amended the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) in several aspects, including a preferential treatment for senior tranches of simple, transparent and standardised (STS) on-balance-sheet securitisations. It also introduced a provision on how to determine the exposure value of SES in synthetic securitisations. The proposals set out in this Consultation Paper will contribute to a more risk sensitive prudential framework in the area of synthetic securitisation. The consultation runs until 14 October 2022.

The CMRP set out a preferential treatment for the senior tranches retained by the originator institutions in STS on-balance-sheet securitisations under certain conditions, based on the qualitative requirements set out for these transactions in the Securitisation Regulation. This reduction on capital requirements was accompanied by a capital charge on SES, due to concerns related to regulatory arbitrage opportunities which may arise.

These arbitrage opportunities can occur when an originator institution provides credit enhancement to the securitisation positions held by protection providers by contractually designating certain amounts to cover losses of the securitised exposures during the life of the transaction. These amounts, which encumber the originator institution’s income statement in a manner similar to an unfunded guarantee were not previously risk weighted.

The Consultation Paper further specify how originator institutions are to determine the exposure value of SES, taking into account the relevant losses expected to be covered by it. In particular, the focus is on the exposure value of SES of future periods, and on the so-called “trapped and use-it-or-lose-it” mechanisms.

Consultation process

Responses to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 14 October 2022.

A public hearing will take place via conference call on 6 September 2022 from 11:00 to 12:00 CET. 

Legal basis and background

These draft RTS have been developed in accordance with Article 248(4) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (the CRR) as amended by the Regulation (EU) 2021/558 of 31 March 2021  (as part of the CMRP), which mandates the EBA to develop draft RTS to specify how originator institutions are to determine the exposure value referred to in Article 248(1)(e) of CRR, taking into account the relevant losses expected to be covered by SES.

Consultation on draft revised guidelines on methods for calculating contributions to deposit guarantee schemes

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft revised Guidelines on deposit guarantee schemes (DGS) contributions. The revised Guidelines aim at enhancing the proportionality between the risk of a credit institution and its contributions to the DGS and at streamlining and simplifying the original Guidelines. The consultation runs until 31 October 2022.

The Guidelines on DGS contributions harmonise the methodology for the DGS to collect contributions from credit institutions in proportion to their riskiness. In its 2021-2022 review of the Guidelines, the EBA identified that those credit institutions that have become subject to a DGS intervention since 2015 were mostly categorised amongst the riskiest members of their DGS. Thus, the EBA concluded that the methodology set out in the Guidelines remains appropriate. Nonetheless, the EBA identified elements that should be improved. The most substantial proposals included in this Consultation Paper are to:

  • set minimum thresholds for the majority of core risk indicators and adjust their minimum weights to better reflect the indicators’ performance in measuring the risk to the DGSs;
  • introduce an improved formula for determining the risk adjustment factor of each member institution that ensures a constant relationship between the riskiness of institutions and their DGS contributions.; and
  • specify how to account for deposits where the DGS coverage is subject to uncertainty, including in relation to client funds, thus ensuring closer alignment between the amount of covered deposits of a credit institution and its contributions.

Finally, the EBA streamlined and simplified the Guidelines significantly, to make them clearer.

Consultation process and next steps

Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 31 October 2022. All received contributions will be published at the end of the consultation, unless requested otherwise.

A public hearing on the draft revised Guidelines will take place via online meeting on Thursday 29 September 2022 from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST. Please register for the hearing here by 27 September 2022 16:00 CEST.

Background

Article 13(3) of Directive 2014/49/EU on deposit guarantee schemes (DGSD) mandates the EBA to issue Guidelines to specify methods for calculating the contributions to DGSs. To that end, the EBA issued Guidelines EBA/GL/2015/10 on methods for calculating contributions to deposit guarantee schemes on 22 September 2015, which had to be implemented by 31 May 2016. Furthermore, Article 13(3) of the DGSD further requires the EBA to conduct a review of said Guidelines every five years with the first review to be conducted by 3 July 2017.

Accordingly, the EBA published the EBA Report on the implementation of the EBA Guidelines on methods for calculating contributions to deposit guarantee schemes on 17 January 2018. In that report, the EBA made specific recommendations for revising the current Guidelines. It however stated that the findings were preliminary, given the limited experience of operating the risk-based contribution systems among most DGSs, and data covering only one year of risk-based contributions and thus did not revise the Guidelines at the time.

Consultation on supervisory handbook on the validation of rating systems under the Internal Ratings Based approach

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its supervisory handbook for the validation of internal ratings based systems. This handbook clarifies the role of the validation function as part of corporate governance, in particular in terms of scope of work and interaction with the credit risk control unit. The consultation runs until 28 October 2022.

This handbook provides some general guidance on the expectations relative to the validation function, as already laid out in Article 185 of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). It builds on the EBA regulatory technical standards (RTS) and guidelines which are part of the ‘IRB repair roadmap’, and provides a detailed description of the areas which the validation function is expected to assess.

In practice, the handbook does not present any specific methodology to be used by the validation function. Instead, the handbook specifies which elements of institutions’ rating systems are expected to be assessed by the validation function. As such, it covers both the tasks related to the pure model performance assessment, mirroring the CRR distinction between risk differentiation and risk quantification, as well as the tasks dealing with the modelling environment, such as data quality and model implementation assessment. While describing the specificities of the validation function tasks, the handbook clarifies its relationship with other functions related to the corporate governance, such as the credit risk control unit and the internal audit.

In addition, the handbook provides a set of expectations and good practices on the work of the validation function depending on its position in the model cycle (i.e. first or subsequent validation), as well as some additional guidance for the validation of rating systems when using external data, when outsourcing some validation tasks, as well as in a situation of data scarcity.

Consultation process

Responses to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 28 October 2022.

public hearing will take place via conference call on 4 October 2022 from 14:00 to 16:00 CEST. The deadline for registration is the 3 October 2022, 18:00 CEST.

All contributions received will be published after the consultation closes, unless requested otherwise.

Legal basis and next steps

The task of the EBA to develop and maintain a supervisory handbook stems from Article 8(1)(aa) of the Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (the ‘EBA Regulation’). The supervisory handbook should cover all matters which are within the EBA's remit with the aim to set out best supervisory practices rather than provide further specifications for the application of the legislation.

The supervisory handbook, just like the EBA Guidelines, is non-binding nature, of general application and acts of Union law whose validity can be determined only by the Union courts in a preliminary ruling. However, unlike guidelines, the supervisory handbook is not addressed directly to financial institutions but to competent authorities, and does not limit their judgment-led supervision. As no ‘comply or explain’ mechanism is applicable to the handbook, any departure from it can be justified merely on the needs of judgment-led supervision.

Consultation on draft RTS on the identification of a group of connected clients (GCC)

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the identification of a group of connected clients (GCC). The draft RTS, in conjunction with the EBA Guidelines on connected clients, provide the complete framework for the identification of the GCC. The consultation runs until 8 September 2022.

The objective of the definition of a GCC is to identify two or more natural or legal persons who are so closely linked by idiosyncratic risk factors that it is prudent to treat them as a single risk.

These draft RTS aim at setting out clear circumstances where interconnections by means of a control and/or an economic dependency relationship can lead to a single risk and thus a grouping requirement. In addition, the draft RTS set out rebuttable provisions for the assessment of situations where control and economic dependencies coexist and thus one overall GCC, as opposed to two or more separate GCC, needs to be formed.

Consultation process

Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by clicking on the "send your comments" button on the consultation page. Please note that the deadline for the submission of comments is 8 September 2022.

A public hearing will take place via conference call on 13 July 2022 from 13:30 to 15:30 CEST.

Legal basis and background

Article 4(4) of the CRR mandates the EBA to develop draft RTS specifying in which circumstances the conditions set out in Article 4(1) (39) of the CRR are met. The conditions set out therein refer to cases in which two or more natural or legal persons:

a) are directly or indirectly interconnected by a control relationship as defined in Article 4 paragraph 1 number 37 of the CRR;

b) are interconnected by some form of economic dependency, so that, if one of them were to experience financial problems, in particular funding or repayment difficulties, the other or all of the others would also be likely to encounter funding or repayment difficulties.

These draft RTS revise and partially replace the EBA Guidelines (EBA/GL/2017/15) on connected clients under Article 4 paragraph 1 number 39 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR). They concentrate on a clear and harmonised specification of the circumstances in which the conditions set out in point (39) of Article 4 paragraph 1 of the CRR to form a GCC are met.