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The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an update to its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on benchmarking of internal approaches. The updated ITS include all benchmarking portfolios that will be used for the 2021 exercise. The main novelty is the inclusion of the IFRS9 template. The benchmarking exercise is an essential supervisory tool to enhance the quality of internal models, which is particularly important in a stressed economic situation.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) publishes today its final Guidelines on the determination of the weighted average maturity (WAM) of the contractual payments due under the tranche of a securitisation transaction, as laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). These Guidelines aim at ensuring that the methodology applicable for the determination of the WAM for regulatory purposes is sufficiently transparent and harmonised in order to increase consistency and comparability in the own funds held by institutions.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on specific reporting requirements for market risk. These ITS introduce the first elements of the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) into the EU prudential framework by means of a reporting requirement. The ITS are expected to apply from September 2021.

The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) have today issued a Consultation Paper seeking input on proposed environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure standards for financial market participants, advisers and products. These standards have been developed under the EU Regulation on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (SFDR), aiming to:- strengthen protection for end-investors;- improve the disclosures to investors from a broad range of financial market participants and financial advisers; and- improve the disclosures to investors regarding financial products.

Following up on its strategic communications of 12th, 25th, 31st March and 2nd April, the European Banking Authority (EBA) provides today further clarity on how additional flexibility will guide supervisory approaches in relation to market risk, the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP), recovery planning, digital operational resilience and ICT risk and securitisation. At the same time, the EBA notes the need for stringent attention by supervisors and financial institutions in relation to key risks in these areas.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an updated guide on how to report the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs) and a revised methodological guide on how to compile risk indicators and detailed risk analysis tools. FSIs provide insight into the financial health and soundness of countries’ financial institutions as well as corporate and household sectors, thus supporting the economic and financial stability analysis.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion in response to the European Commission’s intention to amend the EBA’s final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on assigning risk weights to specialised lending exposures before endorsing them. The EBA is of the view that the proposed changes, despite their substantive nature, do not alter the draft RTS in a significant manner, as they still maintain a good balance between the flexibility and risk sensitivity required for the IRB approach and the need for a harmonised regulatory framework.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) updated today its Guidelines on the equivalence of confidentiality and professional secrecy regimes by adding the State Department of Financial Services (United States) to the current list of non-EU (third country) supervisory authorities whose confidentiality regimes can be regarded as equivalent. The EBA Guidelines are designed to help EU authorities in their assessment of third country equivalence and to facilitate cooperation with third country supervisory authorities and their participation in supervisory colleges overseeing international banks.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its quarterly Risk Dashboard covering Q4 2019 data and summarising the main risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector. Ahead of the Corona crisis, EU banks’ capital ratios and asset quality have improved. However, return on equity (RoE) has further worsened.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a new release of the reporting framework 2.10, which includes the validation rules, the Data Point Model (DPM) dictionary and XBRL taxonomies. The technical package reflects the updated EBA Guidelines on Funding Plans, and integrates reporting of remuneration and fraudulent payments into the DPM and XBRL taxonomies.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today two Reports, which measure the impact of implementing the final Basel III reforms and monitor the current implementation of liquidity measures in the EU. Being based on June 2019 reporting date, these results do not reflect the economic impact of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on participating banks. Overall, the EBA estimates that the Basel III reforms, once fully implemented in 2028 after the additional delay of one year agreed by the Basel Committee, would determine an average increase by 16.1% of EU banks' Tier 1 minimum required capital. The liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of EU banks, which was fully implemented in January 2018, stood at around 147% on average in June 2019.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) updated today the 2019 list of Other Systemically Important Institutions (O-SIIs) in the EU. O-SIIs - those institutions which, along with Global Systemically Important Institutions (G-SIIs), are deemed systemically important - have been identified by the relevant authorities across the Union according to harmonised criteria provided by the EBA Guidelines. This list also reflects the additional capital buffers that the relevant authorities have set for the identified O-SIIs. The list of O-SIIs is available also in a user-friendly visualisation tool, including the information on O-SII buffers assigned to identified institutions across the EU.

In light of the turbulence caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the need for potential applicants to focus on other issues, the European Banking Authority (EBA) has decided to extend the deadline of the call for expression of interest for its Banking Stakeholder Group (BSG) to 17 April at 23.59 CET. This extension will allow more time to all interested stakeholders to apply.

Following the publication of its statement on the application of the prudential framework regarding default, forbearance and IFRS9 in light of COVID-19 measures, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published today more detailed guidance on the criteria to be fulfilled by legislative and non-legislative moratoria applied before 30 June 2020. The aim of these Guidelines is to clarify the requirements for public and private moratoria, which if fulfilled, will help avoid the classification of exposures under the definition of forbearance or as defaulted under distressed restructuring.

Following its call for flexibility in the prudential framework and supervisory approaches to support lending into the real economy, the European Banking Authority (EBA) clarified today its expectations in relation to dividend and remuneration policies, provided additional guidance on how to use flexibility in supervisory reporting and recalled the necessary measures to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing (ML/TF).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its second edition of the Financial Education Report (FER). The Report is based on the EBA financial education repository, which consists of more than 120 financial education initiatives taken by the national authorities. The FER describes the most common approaches used by the national authorities and the lessons learned and experiences gained in the area of financial education and financial literacy. It identifies, for example, that awareness-raising campaigns remain among the key tools used by national authorities to reach wide audiences and, in certain cases, to alert consumers to potential risks they may face regarding the use of financial products and services (e.g. crypto-assets).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the new Internal Model Approach (IMA) under the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB). These technical standards conclude the first phase of the EBA roadmap towards the implementation of the market and counterparty credit risk frameworks in the EU.

Following its call on 12 March 2020 to Competent Authorities to make use of the full flexibility provided for in the existing regulation, the European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today a second statement to explain a number of additional interpretative aspects on the functioning of the prudential framework in relation to the classification of loans in default, the identification of forborne exposures, and their accounting treatment. These clarifications will help ensure consistency and comparability in risk metrics across the whole EU banking sector, which are crucial to monitor the effects of the current crisis. The EBA also reminds financial institutions of their consumer protection obligations, temporarily lifts some reporting obligations for payment service providers (PSPs), and calls on PSPs to raise their contactless payment thresholds to the legal limit.