Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today its final guidance for the use of cloud service providers by financial institutions. The EBA Recommendations clarify the EU-wide supervisory expectations if institutions intend to adopt cloud computing, so as to allow them to leverage the benefits of using cloud services, while ensuring that any related risks are adequately identified and managed.

Following up on the cumulative assessment published on 7 December 2017, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its full assessment quantifying the impact of the reform package recently agreed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) on the European banking system.

The EBA published today an updated quantitative analysis on the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL). Based on the same methodology and assumptions developed in the context of the MREL report published in December 2016, the EBA updated its estimates of capacity and funding needs of a representative sample of European banks to meet MREL under alternative scenarios. In this exercise, the EBA highlighted a modest improvement in the stack of MREL eligible instruments in 2016.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion addressed to competent authorities on the transition from the existing Payment Services Directive (PSD1) to the revised Directive (PSD2), which will apply from 13 January 2018. In its Opinion, the EBA clarifies a number of issues identified by market participants and competent authorities, including with regard to the transitional period foreseen under PSD2.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Report on the application of simplified obligations and waivers in recovery and resolution planning and its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the eligibility criteria to determine whether institutions could be subject to simplified obligations when drafting such plans. The Report shows that across the EU, significantly divergent practices apply. Differences have been identified both in the assessment of institutions’ eligibility for simplified obligations, as well as in determining the reduced scope of the recovery and resolution planning requirements laid down in the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). The RTS should help reduce some of the observed divergent practices by increasing harmonisation in simplified obligations eligibility assessment methodologies applied by national authorities.

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA - ESAs) published today their jointly developed draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) amending the framework of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) with regard to physically settled foreign exchange (FX) forwards. These amendments aim at aligning the treatment of variation margin for physically-settled FX forwards with the supervisory guidance applicable in other key jurisdictions.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a Discussion Paper on the implementation in the European Union (EU) of the revised market risk and counterparty credit risk frameworks, i.e. the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) and the Standardised Approach for Counterparty Credit Risk (SA-CCR). This paper discusses some of the most important technical and operational challenges to implement the FRTB and SA-CCR in the EU. The paper aims at providing some preliminary views on how these implementation issues could be addressed and, at the same time, seeks early feedback from the stakeholders on the proposals. The paper also puts forward a roadmap for the development of the regulatory deliverables on the FRTB and SA-CCR included in the CRR2 proposal. The consultation runs until 15 March 2018.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its fourth impact assessment Report for the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR), which shows that EU banks have continued to improve their LCR since 2011. At the reporting date of 31 December 2016, EU banks’ average LCR was significantly above the 100% minimum requirement, which will have to be fully implemented by 1 January 2018. In addition, a more in-depth analysis suggests that the LCR regulation, together with capital standards and stable funding, have helped banks increase their lending to real economy. The Report is based on liquidity data and wider bank balance sheet statistics from 157 EU banks across 16 Member States.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying the requirements for originators, sponsors and original lenders related to risk retention as laid down in the new EU securitisation framework (STS Regulation). The RTS aim to provide clarity on the requirements relating to risk retention, thus reducing the risk of moral hazard and aligning interests. The consultation runs until 15 March 2018.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) specifying a set of criteria for the underlying exposures in securitisation to be deemed homogeneous, as part of the requirements under the new EU securitisation framework. The homogeneity requirement aims to facilitate the assessment of underlying risks by investors and to enable them to perform robust due diligence. Its application is, therefore, one of prerequisites for a more risk sensitive regulatory treatment of the securitisation. The RTS are applicable to both asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) and non-ABCP securitisations. The consultation runs until 15 March 2018.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today data templates that will create the foundation for NPL transactions across the EU. The templates will provide a common EU data set for the screening, financial due diligence and valuation during NPL transactions. An extended use of the templates is expected to widen the investor base, lower entry barriers to potential investors, improve data quality and availability, support price discovery and facilitate the development of the NPL secondary market.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion following the notification by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) of its intention to apply stricter liquidity requirements in order to address an increase in macroprudential risk, based on Article 458 of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and implementing technical standards (ITS) on the EBA electronic central register under the Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The RTS specify the procedures competent authorities (CAs) should follow when providing information to the EBA and those that apply to the EBA when processing and publishing that information. The ITS specify the information that will be made available on the EBA Register. The aim of the EBA Register is to provide transparency on the operation of payment and e-money institutions across the EU, enhance cooperation between competent authorities in the Member States and ensure a high level of consumer protection.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on security measures for operational and security risks of payments services under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). These Guidelines, which the EBA developed in close cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB), are in support of the objective of PSD2 of contributing to an integrated payments market across the European Union, promoting equal conditions for competition, and mitigating the increased security risks arising from electronic payments. This, in turn, minimises disruption to users, payment service providers and payment systems.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on Central Contact Points under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The RTS specify the criteria for determining when the appointment of a central contact point in a host Member State (MS) is appropriate and the functions that these contact points should fulfill. These RTS are in support of the objective of PSD2 of facilitating the supervision by competent authorities (CAs) of the networks of agents used by payment institutions (PIs) and electronic money institutions (EMIs) for providing cross-border payment services under the right of establishment.