Press releases

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has signed a Framework Cooperation Arrangement with several US financial regulatory Agencies. The Framework Cooperation Arrangement lays out the basis for subsequent cooperation arrangements on bank crisis management and resolution between any of the EU Supervisory or Resolution Authorities and any of the participating US Agencies. This Framework Cooperation Arrangement has the objective to promote resolution planning and cooperation for cross-border institutions.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) have published their joint Guidelines to assess the suitability of members of management bodies and key function holders. These Guidelines aim to harmonise and improve suitability assessments within EU financial sectors, and to ensure sound governance arrangements in financial institutions in line with the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). The Guidelines highlight the importance for institutions to consider whether candidates have the knowledge, qualification and skills necessary to safeguard proper and prudent management of the institution. The Guidelines also foster more diverse management bodies and, therefore, contribute to improved risk oversight and resilience of institutions.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published today its revised Guidelines on Internal Governance. These Guidelines aim at further harmonising institutions' internal governance arrangements, processes and mechanisms across the EU, in line with the new requirements in this area introduced in the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV) and also taking into account the proportionality principle. Effective internal governance is fundamental if individual institutions and the banking system as a whole are to operate well.

The Joint Committee of the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) published today guidelines to prevent the abuse of funds transfers for terrorist financing and money laundering purposes. These guidelines are part of the ESAs' wider work on fostering a consistent approach to Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) and promote a common understanding of payment service providers' obligations in this area

<p>The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation to amend the Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on supervisory disclosure, which specify the format, structure, contents list and annual publication date of the supervisory information to be disclosed by competent authorities. The revised draft ITS will incorporate the changes to the EU legal framework and the establishment of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM). The consultation runs until 22 December 2017.</p>

The Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA - ESAs) published today its Autumn 2017 Report on risks and vulnerabilities in the European Union's financial system. The Report highlights the risks to the stability of the European financial sector in an uncertain political and economic environment, not least in light of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. It also highlights persistent valuation risk with an uncertain outlook for yields and argues that financial institutions continue to face profitability challenges in spite of recent improvements. Rapid developments in the area of FinTech are raising new opportunities, but also challenges for financial institutions and final users. The Report also presents regulatory and supervisory initiatives to monitor and mitigate the risks identified.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) welcomed today the European Commission’s proposal to adjust and upgrade its current framework to ensure the Authority is adequately equipped in terms of powers, governance and funding. In particular, the EBA welcomes its strengthened competencies in the areas of supervisory convergence and mediation, supporting the EBA’s enhanced focus on more integrated and consistent supervisory processes and outcomes in the Single Market.

<p>The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a public consultation on its discussion paper on significant risk transfer in securitisation. This work builds on the EBA’s monitoring activity of supervisory practices in the area of significant risk transfer, which the Authority started in 2014 with the publication of the EBA Guidelines on this topic. The discussion paper aims at seeking stakeholders’ views on how to further harmonise the regulation and supervision of the risk transfer through securitisation. The EBA’s proposals are based on the newly agreed European securitisation legislation. The consultation runs until 19 December 2017.</p>

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its twelfth Report of the CRDIV-CRR/Basel III monitoring exercise on the European banking system. This exercise presents aggregate data on EU banks’ capital, leverage, and liquidity ratios assuming full implementation of the CRD IV-CRR/Basel III framework. Overall, the results, based on data as of 31 December 2016, show a further improvement of European banks' capital positions, with a total average Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 13.4% (12.8% as of 30 June 2016). This exercise does not reflect any BCBS standards agreed since the beginning of 2016 or any other measures currently being considered by the BCBS.

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) published today its final draft implementing technical standards (ITS) specifying templates and procedures resolution authorities should follow when informing the EBA of the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL) that have been set for institutions under their jurisdiction. These standards will enable the EBA to monitor the consistency of MREL implementation across the EU.

<p>The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today two reports on EU banks’ funding plans and asset encumbrance respectively. The reports aim to provide important information for EU supervisors to assess the sustainability of banks’ main sources of funding. The results of the assessment show that banks plan to increase their lending and to expand deposits as well as market based funding.</p>

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today 12 indicators and underlying data from the 35 largest institutions in the EU, whose leverage ratio exposure measure exceeds EUR 200 bn. In 2015, the number of banks with a leverage ratio exposure measure exceeding EUR 200 bn was 36 and 3 banks have changed in the sample. This end-2016 data contributes to the internationally agreed basis on which a smaller subset of banks will be identified as global systemically important institutions (G-SIIs), following the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) final assessments.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an updated list of public sector entities (PSEs) that may be treated as regional governments, local authorities or central governments for the calculation of capital requirements, in accordance with the EU Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR).