Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its third impact assessment Report for the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR), together with a review of its phasing-in period. The Report shows a constant improvement of the average LCR across EU banks since 2011. At the reporting date of 31 December 2015, EU banks’ average LCR was significantly above the 100% minimum requirement, which will have to be fully implemented by January 2018, and no strong evidence was found suggesting that the EBA should recommend an extension of the phasing-in period of the LCR. The Report, which is based on liquidity data from 194 EU banks across 17 Member States, is the first publication after the implementation of the minimum binding standards in 2015 and accounts for the provisions of the Commission’s Delegated Regulation on the LCR.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines on the supervision of significant branches. Prompted by the increasing demand to establish branches across the European Union, these Guidelines are designed to facilitate cooperation and coordination between the Competent Authorities (CAs). They will assist them in supervising the largest systemically important branches, the so-called “significant-plus” branches, which require intensified supervision.

​​The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) has today published a ​Report on good supervisory practices for reducing sole and mechanistic reliance on credit ratings. The Report is directed at the nationally appointed Sectoral Competent Authorities (SCAs) for a wide range of financial institutions, such as credit institutions, investment firms, asset management companies and insurance undertakings.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report including recommendations on how to harmonise covered bond framework in the EU. This Report represents an unparalleled attempt to further strengthen the covered bonds across the EU and seeks to ensure that only those financial instruments that comply with the harmonised structural, credit risk and prudential standards can be branded as ‘covered bonds’ and have access to special regulatory and capital treatment as provided in the current EU financial regulation.

The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) published today the revised Joint Guidelines on the prudential assessment of acquisitions and increases of qualifying holdings in the banking, insurance and securities sectors, replacing the previous Guidelines, adopted in 2008.

The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) launched today a public consultation about the potential benefits and risks of Big Data for consumers and financial firms to determine whether any further regulatory or supervisory actions may be needed.

The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) – EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – today published a report presenting the conclusions of its assessment on automation in financial advice.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a qualitative survey on internal ratings-based (IRB) models to analyse the impact of the EBA draft Guidelines on the estimation of risk parameters for non-defaulted exposures, namely of the probability of default (PD) and the loss given default (LGD), and on the treatment of defaulted assets, which are currently under consultation.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on regulatory disclosure requirements following an update of the Pillar 3 requirements by the Basel Committee in January 2015. These Guidelines represent a significant step forward in the EBA’s effort of improving and enhancing the consistency and comparability of institutions’ regulatory disclosures

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the framework for cooperation and exchange of information between Competent Authorities for passport notifications under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The technical standards will ensure that information about payment institutions and e-money institutions that carry out business in one or more EU Member States is exchanged consistently between the national authorities of the home and host Member States.

The EBA published today its final Report on the implementation and design of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). The Report quantifies the current MREL stack and estimates potential financing needs of European Union (EU) banks under various scenarios. It also assesses the possible macroeconomic costs and benefits of introducing MREL in the EU. Finally, the Report recommends a number of changes to reinforce the MREL framework and integrate the international standards on total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) in the EU’s MREL.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today a revised list of validation rules in its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting, highlighting those which have been deactivated either for incorrectness or for triggering IT problems. Competent Authorities throughout the EU are informed that data submitted in accordance with these ITS should not be formally validated against the set of deactivated rules.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Guidelines developed in close cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB) under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The draft Guidelines specify (i) the criteria for classifying operational or security incidents as major, (ii) the template to be used by payment service providers when notifying them to the Competent Authorities (CAs,) and (iii) the indicators CAs need to use when assessing the relevance of such incidents. These Guidelines are in support of the objectives of the PSD2 of strengthening the integrated payments market across the European Union (EU), ensuring a consistent application of the legislative framework, promoting equal conditions for competition, providing a secure framework on the payments environment and protecting consumers.

The 45 EU Agencies and Joint Undertakings make a vast contribution to the economic and political development of the European Union according to two new studies presented today during the EU Agencies Forum at the European Parliament. The studies highlight that while the EU Agencies represent less than 0.8% of the EU’s annual budget their contribution has widespread impact at citizen, industry and policy level.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its fourth updated list of capital instruments that Competent Supervisory Authorities (CAs) across the European Union (EU) have classified as Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1). Since the publication of the previous update in September 2016, some new CET1 instruments have been assessed and evaluated as compliant with the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). The list will be maintained and updated on a regular basis.