Press releases

The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) for securities (ESMA), banking (EBA), and insurance and occupational pensions (EIOPA) have today issued their August 2015 Joint Committee Report on Risks and Vulnerabilities in the EU financial system. The joint risk report informs on risks in the EU financial system (banking, securities and insurance sector), with a particular focus on cross-sectoral vulnerabilities and developments.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a report combining the benchmarking of remuneration practices across the European Union and aggregated data on the remuneration of EU institutions’ staff who received, in total, EUR one million or more in 2013. The report shows that the number of high earners slightly decreased since 2012 and that the ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration paid to identified staff was further reduced in 2013. This report is part of the EBA's work on institutions’ staff remuneration policies aimed at ensuring prudent and sustainable risk taking in the EU banking sector.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a report combining the benchmarking of remuneration practices across the European Union and aggregated data on the remuneration of EU institutions’ staff who received, in total, EUR one million or more in 2013. The analysis focuses, in particular, on the identification of staff, the application of deferral arrangements and the pay out in instruments, as well as on the use of specific remuneration elements, such as guaranteed variable remuneration and severance payments. The report shows that the number of high earners slightly decreased since 2012 and that the ratio between the variable and fixed remuneration paid to identified staff was further reduced in 2013. This report is part of the EBA's work on institutions’ staff remuneration policies aimed at ensuring prudent and sustainable risk taking in the EU banking sector.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) informed today that it will incorporate additional analysis into its calibration reports on Net Stable Funding Requirements and Leverage Ratio. The announcement follows a request by the European Commission (EC) to obtain further advice so as to ensure its possible future policy actions in this area are well informed.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today its Opinion on how to define what arrangements should be protected in a partial property transfer in resolution. The Opinion ensures full protection of well-established sources of refinancing such as secured debt, including securities lending and covered bonds, and of means of risk mitigation. The Opinion is issued today in response to a request for advice from the European Commission and it will inform its delegated acts on the classes of arrangements to be protected in a partial transfer of the property of a bank under resolution.

The EBA announced today that it is getting ready to develop requirements that will harmonise regulatory and supervisory practices to ensure secure, easy and efficient payment services across the EU. The EBA will do so by fulfilling mandates under the upcoming revised Payments Services Directive (PSD2) and the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR). It has also issued final Guidelines for the security of internet payments that are applicable from 1 August 2015.

The Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) has ruled against an appeal by Onix Asigurari SA, a Romanian insurer, on a decision by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today two reports on the consistency of RWAs across large EU institutions for large corporate, sovereign and institutions’ IRB portfolios, (collectively referred to as “low default portfolios” - LDP), as well as for the calculation of counterparty credit risk (CCR) exposures under the Internal Model Method (IMM) and the credit value adjustments (CVA) according to the advanced approach (ACVA). The reports summarise the findings obtained from two benchmarking exercises conducted in line with the mandate laid down in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) and related draft technical standards. The benchmarking exercises aim at improving the comparability of EU banks’ RWAs and are a crucial tool to restoring trust in internal models.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on passport notifications for mortgage credit intermediaries in support of the transposition of the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD). The Guidelines will ensure that information about credit intermediaries carrying out business in more than one Member State is exchanged consistently between national authorities.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the procedures for excluding transactions with non-financial counterparties (NFCs) established in a third country from the own funds requirement for credit valuation adjustment (CVA) risk. The proposed RTS align the treatment of NFCs established in a third country with the treatment of EU NFCs. The consultation runs until 5 November 2015.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a call for evidence on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the SME supporting factor (SF). Through this paper, which is the basis for a preliminary discussion, the EBA is inviting its stakeholders to provide their input and evidence aimed at supporting the ongoing analysis on bank lending to SMEs and the impact of the SME SF. The final document, which will inform the European Commission’s own report on the impact of own funds requirements on lending to SMEs, is expected to be published in the first quarter of 2016. The consultation runs until 1 October 2015.

This report, requested by the European Commission, analyses the appropriateness of the Risk Weights (RWs) for Retail SME lending proposed in the CRDIV/CRR framework and assesses the possible effects of a reduction by one third in relation to the current regulation and the effect of an increase from EUR 1 million to EUR 5 million on the regulatory thresholds for SMEs.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on draft Guidelines on cooperation agreements between deposit guarantee schemes (DGSs). These Guidelines are part of the EBA's work to promote a consistent and coherent approach to cooperation agreements between deposit guarantee schemes (DGSs) across the European Union (EU). The consultation runs until 29 October 2015.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the key metrics used to identify global systemically important institutions (G-SIIs) in the EU, with information on size, interconnectedness, substitutability, complexity and cross-jurisdictional activity. The EBA’s regulatory package on G-SIIs identification and data disclosure are in line with the internationally agreed framework developed by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). To promote a level playing field in the EU regarding the disclosure requirements and to increase transparency, the EBA goes beyond the minimum standards required by the BCBS, both in terms of granularity of the disclosed information and applicable scope of institutions. Therefore, some of the group-specific values published today include institutions that did not contribute directly to the BCBS's G-SIB exercise. This year’s disclosure exercise covers 37 EU institutions whose leverage ratio exposure measure exceeded 200 billion Euro in 2014.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today amendments to the adopted Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. These RTS were published by the European Commission as Delegated Act on 6 June 2014.