EBA publishes final draft technical standards on disclosure for the leverage ratio

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published its final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on disclosure for the leverage ratio. These standards will be part of the EU Single Rulebook in the banking sector and aim at harmonising disclosure of the leverage ratio across the EU by providing institutions with uniform templates and instructions. Update: on 15 June 2015 the European Banking Authority (EBA) published its updated Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on disclosure and supervisory reporting of leverage ratio for EU institutions. The ITS include changes to templates and instructions to update the leverage ratio disclosure and reporting framework following the Commission's adoption of the Delegated Act on the Leverage Ratio on 10 October 2014.

These draft ITS include all the items that are relevant for disclosure under the provisions set out in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and are aligned, as much as possible, with the Basel disclosure framework. The disclosure framework set out in the ITS consists of four templates:

• a table reconciling the figures of the leverage ratio denominator with those reported under the relevant accounting standards;
• a table providing, a breakdown of the leverage ratio denominator by exposure category;
• a table providing a further breakdown of the leverage ratio denominator by group of counterparty;
• a table with qualitative information on leverage risk.

Legal basis and next steps

These final ITS have been developed in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 (CRR) on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms.

The final standards have been sent today to the European Commission for their adoption as Regulations that will be directly applicable throughout the EU.

The European Commission has been empowered to enact a delegated act to change the calculation of the leverage ratio (Article 456(1)(j) of the CRR) before disclosure begins as of 1 January 2015. For this reason, the ITS in general, and the templates and instructions in particular, will be subject to future changes depending on the decisions made in the delegated act.