EBA publishes final guidelines on the appropriate subsets of sectoral exposures in the application of a systemic risk buffer

Following the entry into force of the fifth Capital Requirements Directive (CRD V), the European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a set of Guidelines on the appropriate subsets of sectoral exposures to which a competent or designated authority (hereby relevant authority) may apply a systemic risk buffer.

In particular, the Guidelines suggest a common framework of dimensions and sub-dimensions from which the relevant authority can define a subset of exposures. The Guidelines include detailed definitions of elements used in each dimension and sub-dimension, along with examples of application.

A pre-condition when defining a subset of sectoral exposures is the systemic relevance of the risks stemming from the subset of sectoral exposures. The Guidelines recommend a set of criteria to be used by the relevant authority when assessing such relevance.

Finally, the Guidelines advocate for appropriate coordination and cooperation between the competent authority and the designated authority in order to avoid the risk of overlaps, double counting of risk and inefficient risk targeting.

Legal basis and background

The EBA has issued the Guidelines in accordance with Article 133(6) of Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD) in conjunction with Article 16(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (EBA founding Regulation). Guidelines set the EBA’s view of appropriate supervisory practices within the European System of Financial Supervision or how Union law should be applied in a particular area.