​The EBA reaches another important milestone in enhancing supervisory efficiency with its revised SREP Guidelines

​The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its final revised Guidelines on common procedures and methodologies for the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP) and supervisory stress testing, marking another key milestone in its efforts to enhance the efficiency, coherence and effectiveness of EU banking supervision. The revised Guidelines are a core deliverable of the EBA’s efficiency and simplification agenda. They build on the EBA Report on the efficiency of the regulatory and supervisory framework (October 2025) and follow the Report on simplifying the stacking orders of the EU prudential and resolution framework. The revised SREP Guidelines pave the way for a more risk-focused, efficient, proportionate and forward-looking framework for supervisors across the EU.

​​Since their adoption in 2014, the SREP Guidelines have given every EU supervisor a common language for assessing credit institutions, providing the foundation on which the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) was built, ending supervisory disputes in cross-border colleges, and enabling the Banking Union to get off the ground. Nearly a decade of implementation has now confirmed both their value and their need to evolve.

​​The revised SREP Guidelines introduce targeted rationalisation measures, including a 30% reduction in the overall page count, while preserving the core structure and objectives of the SREP. They are aligned with Capital Requirements Regulation and Capital Requirements Directive (CRRIII/CRDVI) and other regulatory developments, and draw on supervisory experience, peer review findings and extensive supervisory exchanges, leading to the following key enhancements:

• ​Simplified regulatory and supervisory framework: a streamlined, and non-duplicative set of provisions that bring together all SREP-related guidance, including SREP guidelines for ICT risk and third-country branches, complemented by targeted refinements, such as merging liquidity and funding risk assessments, and clearer link to the relevant legal acts facilitating SREP assessments (published separately).​

• ​Enhanced and forward-looking risk coverage supporting supervisory modernisation: broader and more forward-looking identification of risks, with increased focus on emerging or materially evolving risk drivers, including ICT, ESG, credit spread risk from non-trading activities (CSRBB). ​

• ​More risk-based and proportionate supervision: a strengthened risk-based approach, with supervisory assessments calibrated in scope, depth and intensity to institutions’ risk profiles, and greater use of existing information available to supervisors, enabling altogether a more efficient and tailored use of supervisory resources. 

• ​Enhanced supervisory effectiveness: introduction of a high-level, flexible escalation framework, a stronger link between supervisory findings and measures, and improved clarity in communicating SREP outcomes.

• ​Clarified risk taxonomy and interaction between Pillar 1 and Pillar 2: introduction of non-exhaustive sub-categories for credit risk, market risk, operational risk and IRRBB to support more consistent supervisory assessments. The revised Guidelines further clarify the interaction between Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 requirements, including the application of the output floor.

• ​Integration of ICT/DORA, operational resilience and ESG factors: enhanced treatment of ICT risk through the incorporation of DORA, alongside broader integration of operational resilience concept and environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors within the existing SREP framework.

​Legal basis and background

1. ​Today’s publication marks the third major milestone under the EBA’s communication campaign “Simplifying to strengthen: building a more efficient EU prudential and supervisory framework”. This initiative is part of the EBA’s broader priority to simplify and enhance the efficiency of the regulatory and supervisory framework, in line with the work of its Task Force on Efficiency (TFE) and the EBA’s Report on the efficiency of the regulatory and supervisory framework, published on 1 October 2025. It delivers, in particular, on Recommendation 2.4.

2. ​The revised Guidelines have been developed on the basis of: (i) Article 107(3) of Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD), mandating the EBA to specify common procedures and methodologies for the SREP; (ii) Article 48n(6)(a) of CRD VI, mandating guidelines on the SREP for third-country branches; (iii) Article 104a(7) of CRD VI, mandating guidelines to operationalise the output floor.

3. ​This revision represents the third major update of the SREP framework since 2014. It strengthens the overall coherence of supervisory architecture by consolidating the existing SREP Guidelines (EBA/GL/2022/03) and the standalone Guidelines on ICT risk assessment (EBA/GL/2017/05), while also incorporating new mandates introduced by the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD VI), including the treatment of third-country branches and the operationalisation of the output floor into a single comprehensive framework. 

4. ​The Guidelines are addressed to competent authorities as defined in Article 4(2), points (i) and (viii) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010. Competent authorities are required to report whether they comply or intend to comply with the Guidelines within two months of publication of the translations into the official EU languages.

5. ​The Guidelines will apply from 1 January 2027. Competent authorities are nevertheless encouraged to consider the revised guidance ahead of that date and, where possible, to introduce its elements at an earlier stage of their supervisory planning cycles. Upon entry into force, the Guidelines repeal and replace EBA/GL/2022/03 and EBA/GL/2017/05.​