Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today final guidelines specifying the conditions for the application of the alternative treatment of institutions’ exposures related to ‘tri-party repurchase agreements’ for large exposure purposes. Under the alternative treatment, institutions are allowed to replace the total amount of their exposures to a collateral issuer due to tri-party repurchase agreements facilitated by a tri-party agent, with the full amount of the limits that the institution has instructed the tri-party agent to apply to those exposures.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on the information concerning the new prudential requirements that competent authorities will be required to disclose publicly for all types of investment firms authorised under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). The draft ITS, which are part of the phase 2 mandates of the EBA Roadmap on investment firms, aim at ensuring that the disclosed information is comprehensive and comparable across all Member States. The consultation runs until 11 May 2021.

​​​​​​​The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) delivered today to the European Commission (EC) the Final Report [LINK], including the draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), on the content, methodologies and presentation of disclosures under the EU Regulation on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (SFDR).

​​​​​​​The European Supervisory Authorities - ESAs (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority) submitted today to the European Commission draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on amendments to the key information document for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today the 2021 EU-wide stress test and released the macroeconomic scenarios. Following the postponement of the 2020 exercise, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s EU-wide stress test will provide valuable input for assessing the resilience of the European banking sector. Accordingly, the adverse scenario is based on a narrative of a prolonged COVID-19 scenario in a ‘lower for longer’ interest rate environment, in which negative confidence shocks would prolong the economic contraction. The EBA expects to publish the results of the exercise by 31 July 2021.

​​​​​​​The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today additional clarifications on the application of the prudential framework in response to issues raised as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. These clarifications update the FAQ section of the EBA Report on COVID-19 implementation policies, which provides clarity on the implementation of (i) the EBA Guidelines on moratoria and (ii) the EBA Guidelines on COVID-19 reporting and disclosure. This Report is part of the EBA’s wider monitoring of the implementation of COVID-19 policies as well as of the application of existing policies under these exceptional circumstances.

The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) launched today a public consultation to amend the Implementing Regulations on the mapping of credit assessments of External Credit Assessment Institutions (ECAIs) for credit risk. The amendments are needed to assign mappings for two newly established ECAIs and to reflect the outcomes of a monitoring exercise on the adequacy of existing mappings, namely changes to the Credit Quality Steps (CQS) allocation for two ECAIs and the introduction of new credit rating scales for nine ECAIs. The Implementing Regulations are part of the EU Single Rulebook for banking and insurance aimed at creating a safe and sound regulatory framework consistently applicable across the European Union (EU). The consultation runs until 5 March 2021.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) will launch its 2021 EU-wide stress test exercise with the publication of the macroeconomic scenarios on 29 January at 18:00 CET.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today two final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on (i) the criteria to identify all categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on the investment firm’s risk profile or asset it manages (‘risk takers’) and (ii) on the classes of instruments that adequately reflect the credit quality of the investment firm and possible alternative arrangements that are appropriate to be used for the purposes of variable remuneration. The objective of these RTS is to define and harmonise the criteria for the identification of such staff and the use of instruments or alternative arrangements for the purposes of variable remuneration so as to ensure a consistent approach across the EU.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its annual report on Asset Encumbrance. As COVID-19 spread across Europe and activity in primary markets froze, banks made extensive use of central bank liquidity facilities to build precautionary liquidity buffers. In this context, the asset encumbrance ratio rose substantially in the first half of 2020.

​​​​​​​The European Supervisory Authorities - ESAs (the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority) submitted today to the European Commission the final Report on the draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) under the Financial Conglomerates Directive (FICOD) on reporting templates for intra-group transactions (IGT) and risk concentration (RC). The draft ITS aim at further increasing comparability amongst conglomerates of different EU Member States thereby improving supervisory consistency.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today public consultations on its new Guidelines on the monitoring of the threshold and other procedural aspects on the establishment of intermediate EU parent undertakings (IPU) as laid down in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD). This guidance specifies the methodology to calculate the total value of assets in the Union of the third-country groups and clarifies how to monitor this value in order to meet the IPU requirement. The consultation runs until 15 March 2021.

The Joint Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs – European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and European Securities and Markets Authority) published today its decision in relation to an alleged non-application of Union law by eight national competent authorities brought by Mr Howerton against the European Banking Authority (EBA). In its decision, the Board of Appeal dismisses the Appellant’s claim as manifestly inadmissible as the facts described do not seem to involve a subject-matter within the remit of the EBA nor of the Board of Appeal.

EBA releases erratum of the taxonomy package on reporting framework 3.0 phase 1

<p><strong>The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its quarterly Risk Dashboard together with the results of the Risk Assessment Questionnaire (RAQ). The Q3data shows a rise in capital ratios, and an improvement in the NPL ratio, while the return on equity (RoE) remained significantly below banks’ cost of equity. The Risk Dashboard includes, for the first time, data on moratoria and public guarantee schemes.</strong></p>