Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today a call for input to understand the scale and drivers of ‘de-risking‘ at EU level and its impact on customers. This call, which forms part of the EBA’s work to lead, coordinate and monitor the EU financial sector’s AML/CFT efforts, aims primarily to understand why financial institutions choose to de-risk instead of managing the risks associated with certain sectors or customers. This call for input is of interest to stakeholders across the financial sector and its users, as the EBA wants to hear from all groups affected by de-risking. The call for input runs until 11 September 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its 2019 Annual Report, which provides a detailed account of all the work the Authority achieved in the past year and anticipates the key areas of focus in the coming year.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) submitted today its response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The EBA welcomes this consultation, and agrees with the need to revise the NFRD so as to meet the demand for relevant, reliable and comparable company disclosure on non-financial matters. The EBA also highlights the need to increase standardisation by setting out mandatory rather than voluntary requirements, so as to ensure comparable disclosures. Finally, the EBA supports this review as a good opportunity to expand the scope of companies covered by the NFRD, in a proportionate way.The European Banking Authority (EBA) submitted today its response to the European Commission’s public consultation on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The EBA welcomes this consultation, and agrees with the need to revise the NFRD so as to meet the demand for relevant, reliable and comparable company disclosure on non-financial matters. The EBA also highlights the need to increase standardisation by setting out mandatory rather than voluntary requirements, so as to ensure comparable disclosures. Finally, the EBA supports this review as a good opportunity to expand the scope of companies covered by the NFRD, in a proportionate way.

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 draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the prudential treatment of software assets. As the banking sector is moving towards a more digital environment, the aim of these draft RTS is to achieve an appropriate balance between the need to maintain a certain margin of conservatism in the prudential treatment of software assets and their relevance from a business and an economic perspective. The consultation runs until 09 July 2020.

The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) will organise a public hearing on proposed environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure standards for financial market participants, advisers and products.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the seventh EU-wide transparency exercise. This additional data disclosure comes as a response to the outbreak of COVID-19 and provides market participants with bank-level data as of 31 December 2019, prior to the start of the crisis. The data confirms the EU banking sector entered the crisis with solid capital positions and improved asset quality, but also shows the significant dispersion across banks.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched a consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the capitalisation of non-modellable risk factors (NMRFs) for institutions using the new Internal Model Approach (IMA) under the FRTB (Fundamental Review of the Trading Book). These draft RTS are one of the key deliverables included in the roadmap for the new market and counterparty credit risk approaches published on 27 June 2019. The consultation runs until 4 September 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) outlined today its roadmap for the implementation of the new regulatory framework for investment firms and launched a public consultation on its first set of regulatory deliverables on prudential, reporting, disclosures and remuneration requirements. The roadmap outlines the EBA’s work plan for each of the mandates laid down in the IFR/IFD and clarifies the sequencing and rationale behind their prioritisation. Through these mandates, the EBA will contribute to the implementation of a regulatory framework that is calibrated to the size and nature of investment firms. This will strengthen supervision, which will rely more directly on the risks faced by the clients and the investment firms themselves. The consultations launched today run until 4 September 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion on obstacles to the provision of third party provider services (TPPs) under the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on strong customer authentication (SCA) and common and secure communication (CSC). The Opinion aims to support the objectives of the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) of enabling customers to use new and innovative payment services offered by TPPs by addressing a number of issues regarding the interfaces provided by account servicing payment service providers (ASPSPs) to TPPs.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Guidelines on reporting and disclosure of exposures subject to measures applied in response to the COVID-19 crisis. These Guidelines follow the implementation of a broad range of measures, such as legislative moratoria on loan repayments and public guarantees in Member States, with the aim to support the operational and liquidity challenges faced by borrowers. The Guidelines have been developed to address data gaps associated with such measures to ensure an appropriate understanding of institutions’ risk profile and the asset quality on their balance sheets both for supervisors and the wider public.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Report on convergence of supervisory practices in 2019. Overall, the Report finds that the key topics for supervisory attention identified in the EBA 2019 convergence plan have been largely implemented in supervisory work across the EU. The Report is part of the EBA’s work to actively foster and promote supervisory convergence across the Union in order to bring about strong supervisory standards and a common supervisory culture.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Consultation Paper on the draft amended Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on own funds and eligible liabilities. Since their entry into force, the RTS on own funds have significantly enhanced regulatory harmonisation of prudential rules and contributed to strengthening the quality of regulatory capital. With the revised Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) introducing new criteria and requirements for eligible liabilities, these amended RTS capture several aspects of eligible liabilities as well as the changes to the own funds framework. The consultation runs until 31 August 2020.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Guidelines on loan origination and monitoring that expect institutions to develop robust and prudent standards to ensure newly originated loans are assessed properly. The Guidelines also aim to ensure that the institutions’ practices are aligned with consumer protection rules and respect fair treatment of consumers.