Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion addressed to the EU Council, European Commission and European Parliament setting out the requirements that would be needed to regulate ‘virtual currencies’. The Opinion is also addressed to national supervisory authorities and advises to discourage financial institutions from buying, holding or selling virtual currencies while no regulatory regime is in place.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its technical advice to the European Commission on the use of a prudential filter for gains and losses arising from banks’ own credit risk of derivatives. The Authority considers as appropriate not to deviate from the current prudential approach applied at the international level under the Basel III rules, i.e. full deduction of institutions’ own credit risk of derivatives. The work of the EBA will inform the work of the EU Commission on the topic.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launches today a consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) aimed at specifying the minimum margin periods of risk (MPOR) that institutions acting as clearing members may use for the calculation of their capital requirements for exposures to clients. These RTS will be part of the Single Rulebook aimed at enhancing regulatory harmonisation in the banking sector in the European Union. The consultation runs until 9 May 2014.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an opinion on the preferential capital treatment of covered bonds and a detailed report on the European covered bonds frameworks. While expressing support for the current approach laid down in the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), the EBA recommends additional criteria to qualify for preferential treatment. The opinion also calls for further clarifications on current disclosure requirements and provides advice on the preferential treatment of some specific cover assets. Finally, based on the analysis presented in the report, the EBA has identified a series of best practices ensuring a robust and consistent regulatory framework for covered bonds.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on harmonised definitions and templates for funding plans of credit institutions. These Guidelines aim at harmonising reporting of funding plans across the EU.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today public consultation on its draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) on disclosure of information related to the countercyclical capital buffer. These RTS will be part of the EU Single Rulebook aimed at enhancing regulatory harmonisation in the banking sector. The consultation runs until 27 September 2014.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on disclosure of encumbered and unencumbered assets. They are the first step towards a harmonised disclosure framework of asset encumbrance in the EU and have been drafted in accordance with Recommendation D of the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the conditions for the permanent and temporary uses of the Standardised Approach (SA) by institutions that have received permission to use the Internal Ratings Based (IRB) Approach. The EBA has identified the use of the SA as a major driver in the comparability of credit risk capital requirements. These RTS will be part of the EU Single Rulebook aimed at enhancing regulatory harmonisation in the banking sector. The consultation runs until 26 September 2014.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its fifth semi-annual report on risks and vulnerabilities of the EU banking sector. The report shows improvements in market sentiment and confidence which has allowed banks to increase their capital levels ahead of the 2014 EU-wide stress test and to continue the repair of their balance sheets. However, the report cautions about ongoing uncertainties on asset valuations and future profitability in an environment where the signs of recovery remain modest and fragile. The report also draws attention to looming redress costs related to conduct issues as well as to geo-political concerns in emerging markets, which could lead to risk aversion and to an impact on capital flows.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a report analysing the impact that the revised IAS 19 Employee Benefits in conjunction with the deduction of net pension assets under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and changes in net pension liabilities may have on the volatility of institutions' own funds. The report concluded that in most cases there may be limited volatility of own funds due to changes in the accounting and prudential requirements that derive from the revised IAS 19 Employee Benefits and the CRR.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the minimum monetary amount of the professional indemnity insurance or comparable guarantee for mortgage credit intermediaries (RTS on PII).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued a revised list of validation rules in its Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory reporting, which also includes several rules which have been deactivated. National authorities throughout the EU are informed that data submitted in accordance with these Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) should not be validated against the set of deactivated rules.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) and Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) aimed at specifying the EU framework for the conduct of annual supervisory benchmarking of internal approaches for calculating own funds requirements for credit and market risk exposures (RWAs). The consultation runs until 19 August 2014.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) published today their Joint Committee final Report on guidelines for handling consumer complaints in the securities and banking sectors. The document aims to increase market confidence and for the benefit of consumers and firms alike it will ensure a harmonised approach to handling complaints for all 28 EU Member States and across all financial services sectors.

Consumer and investor protection is a common statutory objective of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) - the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). As part of delivering on this objective, and following the first Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day last year in Paris, the ESAs organised the second Joint ESAs Consumer Protection Day on 4 June 2014 in London.