Article 8

Path:
Investment Firms Regulation (IFR) > PART ONE > TITLE II > CHAPTER 2 > Article 8
Title:
Article 8
Description: 
The group capital test
Main content: 

1.   By way of derogation from Article 7, competent authorities may allow the application of this Article in the case of group structures which are deemed to be sufficiently simple, provided that there are no significant risks to clients or to market stemming from the investment firm group as a whole that would otherwise require supervision on a consolidated basis. Competent authorities shall notify EBA when they allow the application of this Article.

2.   For the purposes of this Article, the following shall apply:

(a)

‘own funds instruments’ means own funds as defined in Article 9 of this Regulation, without applying the deductions referred to in point (i) of Article 36(1), point (d) of Article 56, and point (d) of Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;

(b)

the terms ‘investment firm’, ‘financial institution’, ‘ancillary services undertaking’ and ‘tied agent’ shall also apply to undertakings established in third countries, which, were they established in the Union, would fulfil the definitions of those terms in Article 4.

3.   Union parent investment firms, Union parent investment holding companies, Union parent mixed financial holding companies and any other parent undertakings that are investment firms, financial institutions, ancillary services undertakings or tied agents in the investment firm group shall hold at least enough own funds instruments to cover the sum of the following:

(a)

the sum of the full book value of all of their holdings, subordinated claims and instruments referred to in point (i) of Article 36(1), point (d) of Article 56, and point (d) of Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 in investment firms, financial institutions, ancillary services undertakings and tied agents in the investment firm group; and

(b)

the total amount of all of their contingent liabilities in favour of investment firms, financial institutions, ancillary services undertakings and tied agents in the investment firm group.

4.   Competent authorities may allow a Union parent investment holding company or a Union parent mixed financial holding company and any other parent undertaking that is an investment firm, a financial institution, an ancillary services undertaking or a tied agent in the investment firm group, to hold a lower amount of own funds than the amount calculated under paragraph 3, provided that this amount is no lower than the sum of the own funds requirements imposed on an individual basis on its subsidiary investment firms, financial institutions, ancillary services undertakings and tied agents, and the total amount of any contingent liabilities in favour of those entities.

For the purposes of this paragraph, the own funds requirements for subsidiary undertakings as referred to in the first subparagraph which are located in third countries shall be notional own funds requirements that ensure a satisfactory level of prudence to cover for the risks arising from those subsidiary undertakings, as approved by the relevant competent authorities.

5.   Union parent investment firms, Union parent investment holding companies, and Union parent mixed financial holding companies shall have systems in place to monitor and control the sources of capital and funding of all investment firms, investment holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, financial institutions, ancillary services undertakings and tied agents within the investment firm group.


(1)  OJ C 378, 19.10.2018, p. 5.

(2)  OJ C 262, 25.7.2018, p. 35.

(3)  Position of the European Parliament of 16 April 2019 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 8 November 2019.

(4)  Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 1).

(5)  Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms, amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC (OJ L 176, 27.6.2013, p. 338).

(6)  Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU (OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 349).

(7)  Directive (EU) 2019/2034 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on the prudential supervision of investment firms and amending Directives 2002/87/EC, 2009/65/EC, 2011/61/EU, 2013/36/EU, 2014/59/EU and 2014/65/EU (see page 64 of this Official Journal).

(8)  Regulation (EU) 2019/876 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 as regards the leverage ratio, the net stable funding ratio, requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities, counterparty credit risk, market risk, exposures to central counterparties, exposures to collective investment undertakings, large exposures, reporting and disclosure requirements, and Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ L 150, 7.6.2019, p. 1).

(9)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61 of 10 October 2014 to supplement Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and the Council with regard to liquidity coverage requirement for Credit Institutions (OJ L 11, 17.1.2015, p. 1).

(10)  Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority), amending Decision No 716/2009/EC and repealing Commission Decision 2009/78/EC (OJ L 331, 15.12.2010, p. 12).

(11)  Regulation (EU) 2019/630 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 as regards minimum loss coverage for non-performing exposures (OJ L 111, 25.4.2019, p. 4).

(12)  Directive (EU) 2019/878 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 amending Directive 2013/36/EU as regards exempted entities, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, remuneration, supervisory measures and powers and capital conservation measures (OJ L 150, 7.6.2019, p. 253).

(13)  Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 84).

(14)  Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority), amending Decision No 716/2009/EC and repealing Commission Decision 2009/77/EC (OJ L 331, 15.12.2010, p. 84).

(15)  Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73).

(16)  OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.

(17)  Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 1).

(18)  Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 35).

(19)  Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II) (OJ L 335, 17.12.2009, p. 1).

(20)  Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings, amending Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC (OJ L 182, 29.6.2013, p. 19).

(21)  Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 (OJ L 337, 23.12.2015, p. 1).

(22)  Directive 2002/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on the supplementary supervision of credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms in a financial conglomerate and amending Council Directives 73/239/EEC, 79/267/EEC, 92/49/EEC, 92/96/EEC, 93/6/EEC and 93/22/EEC, and Directives 98/78/EC and 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 35, 11.2.2003, p. 1).

(23)  Commission Delegated Directive (EU) 2017/593 of 7 April 2016 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to safeguarding of financial instruments and funds belonging to clients, product governance obligations and the rules applicable to the provision or reception of fees, commissions or any monetary or non‐monetary benefits (OJ L 87, 31.3.2017, p. 500).

(24)  Council Directive 86/635/EEC of 8 December 1986 on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of banks and other financial institutions (OJ L 372, 31.12.1986, p. 1).

(25)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/578 of 13 June 2016 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments with regard to regulatory technical standards specifying the requirements on market making agreements and schemes (OJ L 87, 31.3.2017, p. 183).

(26)  Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/567 of 18 May 2016 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to definitions, transparency, portfolio compression and supervisory measures on product intervention and positions (OJ L 87, 31.3.2017, p. 90).

(27)  Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).

(28)  Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2014 establishing uniform rules and a uniform procedure for the resolution of credit institutions and certain investment firms in the framework of a Single Resolution Mechanism and a Single Resolution Fund and amending Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (OJ L 225, 30.7.2014, p. 1).