Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on possible future changes to the EU-wide stress test. This discussion paper aims to present the EBA’s vision of the future of the EU-wide stress test and to collect comments and feedback from the different users. “The framework we are proposing today aims at making the EU-wide stress test more informative, flexible, and cost-effective, said the EBA Chairperson, Jose Manuel Campa, in launching the consultation. Campa added, “It is the first time we embark on a comprehensive discussion on the future of EU stress testing and we are keen to receive feedback from a wide range of stakeholders”. The consultation runs until 30 April 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Report on the application by Competent Authorities (CAs) of the EBA regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. This Peer Review shows that, within the European Economic Area (EEA), CAs have applied properly the RTS during the reference period from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2017.

The Board of Supervisors (BoS) of the European Banking Authority (EBA) nominated yesterday Gerry Cross as the new Executive Director of the Authority. Gerry Cross was selected from a shortlist of candidates compiled by the EBA Selection Committee.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report on the recent trends of BD&AA in the banking sector and on the key considerations in the development, implementation and adoption of BD&AA. The aim of this assessment is to share knowledge among the stakeholders and, in particular, to ensure regulators and supervisors are well informed on the developments, in an effort to support technological neutrality across the regulatory and supervisory approaches. The need for necessary competence is becoming increasingly important, raising an important challenge for institutions, supervisors and regulators. Training and development, as well as closer engagement between the relevant stakeholders, could be an appropriate starting point for addressing this challenge.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Risk Dashboard and the results of the Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ). While the capital position of EU banks remained strong and asset quality improved further, profitability contracted in Q3 2019, with a negative outlook from both banks and analysts.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the criteria to identify all categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on the institutions’ risk profile (“risk takers”). The aim of these standards is to define and harmonise the criteria for the identification of such staff and to ensure a consistent approach across the EU. The suggested identification process is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative criteria. The consultation runs until 19 February 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an updated list of capital instruments that Competent Authorities (CAs) across the European Union (EU) have classified as Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1). Since the publication of the previous update in July 2019, a new CET1 instrument has been assessed and evaluated as compliant with the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The list will be maintained and updated on a regular basis.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the Standardised Approach for Counterparty Credit Risk (SA-CCR). These draft RTS specify key aspects of the SA-CCR and represent an important contribution to its smooth harmonised implementation in the EU. The RTS are part of the mandates assigned to the EBA within its important role in implementing the SA-CCR and Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) frameworks in the EU.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Report on undue short-term pressures from the financial sector on corporations, which presents its analysis on the extent to which short-termism is present in the banking sector. This assessment responds to a call for advice from the European Commission as part of its Action Plan “Financing Sustainable Growth” and will inform on policy actions that could be taken to ensure that long-term perspectives are adequately considered in the financial sector.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the templates for the 2020 EU-wide stress test, after the feedback received by banks during the testing phase. The stress test exercise will be formally launched in January 2020.

The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) published today Joint guidelines on cooperation and information exchange, establishing colleges of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) supervisors for the first time in the EU to ensure effective cooperation and information exchange between competent authorities. These measures are needed to strengthen the EU’s AML/CFT efforts.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation to amend the Commission's Implementing Regulation on benchmarking of internal models to adjust the benchmarking portfolios and reporting requirements in view of the benchmarking exercise it will carry out in 2021. On the credit risk side, the amended standards will allow to complement the analysis of credit risk models through the introduction of IFRS 9 templates and the collection of risk weighted exposure value (RWA) calculated under the Standardised Approach (SA) and hypothetical RWA calculated with empirical default rates. On the market risk side, the framework remains stable, with the consultation restricted to clarifications on the setting of reference dates and instruments/portfolios definitions. The consultation runs until 13 February 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today a revised list of validation rules in its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting, highlighting those, which have been deactivated either for incorrectness or for triggering IT problems. Competent Authorities throughout the EU are informed that data submitted in accordance with these ITS should not be formally validated against the set of deactivated rules.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) publishes today updated guidelines on harmonised definitions and templates for the reporting of funding plans. The changes include additional details of forecasted market based funding, alignment to FINREP reporting and additional proportionality for small and non-complex credit institutions. This update is the result of the experience gained through the EBA's assessment of banks' funding plans in the recent years.