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The EBA published today its final revised Guidelines on ML/TF risk factors. The revisions take into account changes to the EU Anti Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT) legal framework and address new ML/TF risks, including those identified by the EBA’s implementation reviews. In addition to strengthening financial institutions’ risk-based approaches to AML/CFT, the revision supports the development of more effective and consistent supervisory approaches where evidence suggested that divergent approaches continue to exist. The Guidelines are central to the EBA’s work to lead, coordinate and monitor the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion in response to the Commission’s call for advice on KPIs and related methodology for the disclosure by credit institutions and by investment firms of information on how and to what extent their activities qualify as environmentally sustainable in accordance with the EU Taxonomy. In the advice, the EBA underlines the importance of the green asset ratio, supported by other KPIs, as a key means to understand how institutions are financing sustainable activities and meeting the Paris agreement targets.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a consultation paper on draft implementing technical standards (ITS) on Pillar 3 disclosures on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) risks. The draft ITS put forward comparable disclosures that show how climate change may exacerbate other risks within institutions’ balance sheets, how institutions are mitigating those risks, and their green asset ratio on exposures financing taxonomy-aligned activities, such as those consistent with the Paris agreement goals.

The three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) have today published a joint supervisory statement on the effective and consistent application and national supervision of the Regulation on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial services sector (SFDR). The statement aims to achieve an effective and consistent application and national supervision of the SFDR, promoting a level playing field and protecting investors.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today two public consultations on regulatory technical standards (RTS) and Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on cooperation and information exchange between competent authorities involved in prudential supervision of investment firms. These draft standards provide a solid framework for (i) cooperation in the supervision of investment firm groups though colleges of supervisors and (ii) for information exchange for investment firms operating through branches or the free provision of services. These draft standards are part of the phase 2 mandates of the EBA roadmap on investment firms, and aim at improving cooperation and information exchanges between the supervisors of investment firms. Both consultations run until 23 April 2021.

​​​​​​​The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today an Opinion on supervisory actions national competent authorities (NCAs) should take to ensure banks remove any remaining obstacles that prevent third party providers from accessing payment accounts, which restrict EU consumers’ choice of payment services.  The Opinion will contribute to a level playing field across the EU and to a consistent application and supervision of relevant requirements under the Payment Services Directive (PSD2) and the EBA Regulatory Technical Standards on strong customer authentication and common and secure communication (RTS on SCA&CSC).

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today final draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) specifying how institutions should determine exposures arising from derivative and credit derivative contracts not entered directly into with a client but whose underlying debt or equity instrument was issued by a client. These draft RTS will ensure appropriate levels of consistency through different pieces of the regulatory framework for the calculation of large exposures.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) on the disclosure of indicators of global systemically important institutions (G-SIIs). These standards help to identify which banks are GSIIIs and specify the formats and instructions in accordance with which G-SIIs disclose the information required under the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and aim at ensuring consistency of information.

​​​​​​​The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on the criteria that competent authorities should use to assess a breach of the large exposure limits. The consultation paper also details the criteria to determine the period of time and the measures for institutions to return to compliance with those limits. The consultation runs until 17 May 2021.

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.