EBA at a glance
Who are we?
The European Banking Authority (EBA) is an independent EU Authority founded in 2011, in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis. Our main tasks are to establish consistent rules for EU banks, ensure a level playing field, and safeguard consumers of financial services. Our overarching objective is to contribute to financial stability in the EU.
What do we do?
Our role is to improve the functioning of the internal market by ensuring appropriate, efficient, and harmonised European supervision and regulation. National supervisory authorities are responsible for supervising individual financial institutions.
We do this by ensuring that European banks follow the same unified rulebook. This includes investigations of possible breaches. We contribute to the protection of depositors, investors, and consumers. We encourage consistent supervisory practices and assess risks in the EU banking sector. The EBA also mediates disputes and advises EU institutions.
The EBA develops and maintains the European Single Rulebook for EU banks through the adoption of binding Technical Standards and Guidelines. The Single Rulebook aims at providing a single set of harmonised prudential rules for financial institutions throughout the EU. We promote convergence of supervisory practices to ensure a harmonised application of prudential rules.
Our mandate also requires us to assess risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector through regular risk assessment reports and pan-European stress tests.
Other tasks include investigating insufficient application of EU law by national authorities, decision-making in emergency situations, mediating disagreements between competent authorities in cross-border situations and acting as an independent advisory body to the European Parliament, the Council or the European Commission.
The world of finance is changing and the EBA is adapting to this change by embracing and promoting sustainable finance and financial innovation. We work to reduce risks from climate change and help with broader environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, supporting the banking and financial system’s transition to a more sustainable economy. The EBA upholds these values in-house by operating in a sustainable manner.
The EBA has recently been given new oversight and supervision responsibilities in the areas of information communication technology third party service provision and asset-referenced and e-money token issuance. This is reflected in the context of the Digital and Operational Resilience act (DORA) and Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCAR).
Keeping EU citizens updated on our work in their own language goes to the heart of what we stand for. We embrace transparency through the publication of Guidelines, technical standards, executive summaries of work programmes, and annual reports. All available in the 24 EU official languages.
We work closely with national competent authorities and other EU bodies and agencies, including the European Commission (EC), the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).
How are we organised?
The EBA is led by a Chairperson and Executive Director. We have two main governing bodies: the Board of Supervisors, which makes policy decisions, and the Management Board, which oversees our work. The Board of Supervisors is the main decision-making body of the Authority. It takes all policy decisions of the EBA, such as adopting draft Technical Standards, Guidelines, Opinions and Reports.
The Management Board’s role is to ensure the Authority carries out its mission and performs the tasks assigned to it. In this respect, it is entrusted with the power to propose, among other things, the annual work programme, the annual budget, the staff policy plan and the annual report.
The EBA is organised in four Departments, 18 Units and has a staff of approximately 250 people.
Want to join us?
From policy experts and data analysts to communication specialists and many other profiles, everyone can play an important role in delivering our mission.
The EBA offers competitive salaries, an engaging work environment and a healthy work-life balance, with additional benefits for employees with children and flexible working hours.
We also offer traineeships to university graduates at the beginning of their professional career.