Article 197

1. Institutions may use the following items as eligible collateral under all approaches and methods:

(a) cash on deposit with, or cash assimilated instruments held by, the lending institution;

(b) debt securities issued by central governments or central banks, which securities have a credit assessment by an ECAI or export credit agency recognised as eligible for the purposes of Chapter 2 which has been determined by EBA to be associated with credit quality step 4 or above under the rules for the risk weighting of exposures to central governments and central banks under Chapter 2;

(c) debt securities issued by institutions, which securities have a credit assessment by an ECAI which has been determined by EBA to be associated with credit quality step 3 or above under the rules for the risk weighting of exposures to institutions under Chapter 2;

(d) debt securities issued by other entities which securities have a credit assessment by an ECAI which has been determined by EBA to be associated with credit quality step 3 or above under the rules for the risk weighting of exposures to corporates under Chapter 2;

(e) debt securities with a short-term credit assessment by an ECAI which has been determined by EBA to be associated with credit quality step 3 or above under the rules for the risk weighting of short term exposures under Chapter 2;

(f) equities or convertible bonds that are included in a main index;

(g) gold;

(h) securitisation positions that are not resecuritisation positions and which are subject to a 100 % risk weight or lower in accordance with Article 261 to Article 264.

2. For the purposes of point (b) of paragraph 1, ‘debt securities issued by central governments or central banks’ shall include all the following:

(a) debt securities issued by regional governments or local authorities, exposures to which are treated as exposures to the central government in whose jurisdiction they are established under Article 115(2);

(b) debt securities issued by public sector entities which are treated as exposures to central governments in accordance with Article 116(4);

(c) debt securities issued by multilateral development banks to which a 0 % risk weight is assigned under Article 117(2);

(d) debt securities issued by international organisations which are assigned a 0 % risk weight under Article 118.

3. For the purposes of point (c) of paragraph 1, ‘debt securities issued by institutions’ shall include all the following:

(a) debt securities issued by regional governments or local authorities other than those debt securities referred to in point (a) of paragraph 2;

(b) debt securities issued by public sector entities, exposures to which are treated in accordance with Article 116(1) and (2);

(c) debt securities issued by multilateral development banks other than those to which a 0 % risk weight is assigned under Article 117(2).

4. An institution may use debt securities that are issued by other institutions and that do not have a credit assessment by an ECAI as eligible collateral where those debt securities fulfil all the following criteria:

(a) they are listed on a recognised exchange;

(b) they qualify as senior debt;

(c) all other rated issues by the issuing institution of the same seniority have a credit assessment by an ECAI which has been determined by EBA to be associated with credit quality step 3 or above under the rules for the risk weighting of exposures to institutions or short term exposures under Chapter 2;

(d) the lending institution has no information to suggest that the issue would justify a credit assessment below that indicated in point (c);

(e) the market liquidity of the instrument is sufficient for these purposes.

5. Institutions may use units or shares in CIUs as eligible collateral where all the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) the units or shares have a daily public price quote;

(b) the CIUs are limited to investing in instruments that are eligible for recognition under paragraphs 1 and 4;

(c) the CIUs meet the conditions laid down in Article 132(3).

Where a CIU invests in shares or units of another CIU, conditions laid down in points (a) to (c) of the first subparagraph shall apply equally to any such underlying CIU.

The use by a CIU of derivative instruments to hedge permitted investments shall not prevent units or shares in that undertaking from being eligible as collateral.

6. For the purposes of paragraph 5, where a CIU (‘the original CIU’) or any of its underlying CIUs are not limited to investing in instruments that are eligible under paragraphs 1 and 4, institutions may use units or shares in that CIU as collateral to an amount equal to the value of the eligible assets held by that CIU under the assumption that that CIU or any of its underlying CIUs have invested in non-eligible assets to the maximum extent allowed under their respective mandates.

Where any underlying CIU has underlying CIUs of its own, institutions may use units or shares in the original CIU as eligible collateral provided that they apply the methodology laid down in the first subparagraph.

Where non-eligible assets can have a negative value due to liabilities or contingent liabilities resulting from ownership, institutions shall do both of the following:

(a) calculate the total value of the non-eligible assets;

(b) where the amount obtained under point (a) is negative, subtract the absolute value of that amount from the total value of the eligible assets.

7. With regard to points (b) to (e) of paragraph 1, where a security has two credit assessments by ECAIs, institutions shall apply the less favourable assessment. Where a security has more than two credit assessments by ECAIs, institutions shall apply the two most favourable assessments. Where the two most favourable credit assessments are different, institutions shall apply the less favourable of the two.

8. ESMA shall develop draft implementing technical standards to specify the following:

(a) the main indices referred to in point (f) of paragraph 1 of this Article, in point (a) of Article 198(1), in Article 224(1) and (4), and in point (e) of Article 299(2);

(b) the recognised exchanges referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4 of this Article, in point (a) of Article 198(1), in Article 224(1) and (4), in point (e) of Article 299(2), in point (k) of Article 400(2), in point (e) of Article 416(3), in point (c) of Article 428(1), and in point 12 of Annex III in accordance with the conditions laid down in point (72) of Article 4(1).

ESMA shall submit those draft implementing technical standards to the Commission by 31 December 2014.

Power is conferred on the Commission to adopt the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.