EBA updates its Guidelines for assessing equivalence of professional secrecy regimes of third country authorities

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its updated Guidelines for assessing equivalence of professional secrecy and confidentiality regimes of third country authorities, to widen the scope and the purpose of the assessment.

During the past years, the EBA supported EU Competent Authorities with the assessment of professional secrecy regimes of third country authorities to facilitate their participation in EU supervisory colleges, in accordance with Article 116(6) of the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD).

The EBA Regulation also expressly entrusts the EBA with the task of monitoring third country regulatory and supervisory frameworks and establishes a closer link between equivalence and cooperation with authorities from equivalent third countries through cooperation arrangements. Similarly, provisions in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD), the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and the Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD) all provide for the possibility for EU authorities to sign cooperation arrangements with authorities from third countries. 

In view of that, the EBA has updated its Guidelines on equivalence of confidentiality regime of third countries, to allow for

• a wider scope of the assessment, i.e. to include all relevant provisions in the CRD, PSD2, BRRD and AMLD, as applicable to the specific third country authorities);
• a wider purpose, i.e. to support cooperation arrangements and facilitate participation in supervisory, resolution and AML colleges.

In addition, the EBA has also updated the document showing how the principles that govern the EU confidentiality regime are reflected in the EU framework as defined by the relevant provisions in the CRD, BRRD, AMLD and PSD2.

Legal Basis and background

These Guidelines have been drafted in accordance with Article 16 of the EBA Founding Regulation and related to facilitating the competent authorities’ assessments of third country authorities’ equivalence in relation to confidentiality required in the respective sectoral acts of CRD, BRRD, AMLD.  In addition, Article 21(3) of EBA Regulation mandates the Authority to issue guidelines and recommendations to promote convergence in supervisory functioning and best practices adopted by the colleges of supervisors.