The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Guidelines on the criteria related to simplicity, standardisation and transparency and additional specific criteria for on-balance-sheet securitisations (so-called STS criteria). These Guidelines will ensure a harmonised interpretation of these STS criteria, in alignment with the EBA Guidelines for traditional securitisations. The consultation runs until 7 July 2023.

With the introduction of STS criteria for on-balance-sheet securitisations in the Securitisation Regulation, on-balance-sheet securitisations are now eligible for preferential risk-weight treatment under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR).

The draft Guidelines provide a harmonised interpretation and clarify aspects with a potential level of ambiguity, thus both ensuring a harmonised understanding of the criteria, but also a harmonised implementation in terms of capital requirements.

During the development, EBA has been mindful in ensuring consistency with existing Guidelines for traditional securitisations (ABCP and non-ABCP), which has provided a single point of consistent interpretation of the STS criteria to the relevant stakeholders throughout the Union. This means that the guidance is aligned, where the criteria are the same.  For a limited number of these criteria, the Guidelines for non-ABCP and ABCP securitisation have been updated to ensure further clarity and to reflect on the practical implementation of the criteria.

The draft Guidelines also propose targeted amendments to the Guidelines for non-ABCP securitisation and ABCP securitisation.

The Consultation Paper is composed of two sections. The main section includes the Draft Guidelines for on-balance-sheet securitisations. The second section includes the targeted amendments to the Guidelines for non-ABCP and ABCP securitisation to ensure that the interpretation provided by the EBA is, where appropriate, the same and consistent across all three sets of guidelines.

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 7 July 2023.

A public hearing will take place via conference call on 30 May 2023 from 14:30 to 15:30 (CEST).

Legal basis

The Guidelines have been developed according to Article 26e(2) of the Regulation (EU) 2017/2402 (Securitisation Regulation) as amended by Regulation (EU) 2021/557, as part of the Capital Markets Recovery Package. The mandate entitles the EBA, in close cooperation with ESMA and EIOPA, to adopt guidelines and recommendations on the harmonised interpretation and application of the criteria related to simplicity, transparency, standardisation and additional specific criteria for on-balance-sheet securitisation.