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The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today amendments to the adopted Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the treatment of non-delta risk of options in the standardised market risk approach and to the RTS on the criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile. These two RTS were published by the European Commission as Delegated Acts on 20 May 2014 and 6 June 2014, respectively.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on product oversight and governance (POG) arrangements for retail banking products. These Guidelines set out requirements for manufacturers and distributors when designing and bringing to market mortgages, personal loans, deposits, payment accounts, payment services and electronic money. The Guidelines are the EBA’s response to increasing risks arising from the mis-conduct of financial institutions in their interaction with consumers and are part of the EBA’s work to enhance consumer protection across the EU. The Guidelines will apply from 03 January 2017.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a tentative sample of banks taking part in the 2015 transparency exercise, together with the draft templates illustrating the type of data that will be disclosed. In addition, following the approval by its Board of Supervisors, the EBA released the key features and a tentative calendar of the 2016 EU-wide stress test.

The EBA published final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and Guidelines on the provision of group financial support, as well as final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) detailing the disclosure requirements of these activities. These Technical Standards and Guidelines specify the conditions under which one entity of a banking group can provide support to another entity of the same group in financial difficulties. These have been developed within the framework established by the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and aim at strengthening integrated risk management in EU banking groups by removing possible uncertainties around supporting entities in distress within the same group.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launches today a Call for expression of interest to replace two members of its Banking Stakeholder Group (BSG) in the category of consumers.

The EBA published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on notifications and notice of suspension. These RTS have been developed within the framework established by the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and aim at harmonising at EU level the process and content of notifications, as well as the notice of suspension, to be followed when a banking institutions operating in the EU is failing or likely to fail.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the Minimum Requirement for Own Funds and Eligible Liabilities (MREL), and on the contractual recognition of bail-in. Both standards provide further specification of essential elements to ensure the effectiveness of the resolution regime established by the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). These standards are part of the EBA’s major programme of work to implement the BRRD and address the problem of too-big-to-fail banks.

Andrea Enria, Chairperson of the European Banking Authority (EBA), the EU institution that brings together the banking supervisors and regulators of the EU, said today in a statement: "I am not aware of any plans to introduce haircuts to retail depositors of Greek banks, as reported in the media this morning. I highly doubt that any authority or public body at EU or Member State level could consider this option, as it would be against EU law and the EBA would immediately start breach of EU law proceedings". In his statement Enria reminded that "EU legislation is in place to protect retail Greek depositors, as any other depositor in the EU".

The EBA published today its final Guidelines and final draft Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) relating to the eligibility of institutions for simplified obligations in the context of recovery planning, resolution planning and resolvability assessments under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). The EBA also issued final draft ITS on the procedures, forms and templates for submitting information on resolution plans under the BRRD. The work of the EBA aims at promoting a common EU framework for the application of simplified obligations, in line with the principle of proportionality, and to facilitate cooperation among EU authorities.

The EBA published today its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) setting out the general criteria against which valuers should be assessed to determine whether they comply with the legal requirement of independence for the purposes of performing valuation tasks under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD). These RTS are part of the EBA's work to ensure the effectiveness of the resolution regime established by EU legislation.

Following the public hearing held on June 26, the EBA published the full text of its advice to the European Commission on a framework for qualifying securitisation. The EBA advice had been disclosed last week during the public hearing, so that concerned stakeholders could receive advance information on the EBA’s proposed criteria for defining simple standard and transparent securitisation transactions.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) launched today a consultation on Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the conditions that Competent Authorities have to take into account when tightening capital requirements for mortgage exposures. The proposed RTS illustrate the conditions, as well as financial stability considerations, that would ensure a harmonised approach in setting higher risk weights and higher minimum loss given default (LGD) values. The consultation runs until 6 October 2015.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) that specify the operational functioning of the resolution colleges established for those groups that operate on a cross-border basis in the European Economic Area (EEA). These RTS have been developed within the framework established by the EU Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (the BRRD) and specify how resolution colleges should function, from their establishment, going concern function and resolution planning, to situations of cross-border resolution.

The EBA today published its regular risk assessment report. The report is based on December 2014 data and the final production date for this report was 12 June 2015. The report therefore does not cover the current challenges posed by the situation in Greece. However, the report notes that direct exposures to Greek counterparties are limited. Nonetheless indirect challenges of contagion remain a concern and will require careful monitoring and coordination of supervisory activities across the single market.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) issued today an Opinion to the European Commission supporting its proposed amendments to the EBA final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) submitted to on 27 March 2014, which specifies the derogations concerning currencies featuring constraints on the availability of liquid assets. In particular, the EBA agrees with removing from its RTS the minimum 15% haircut to the value of the collateral posted by an institution with a central bank in order to obtain a credit line. It also supports the Commission’s other proposed amendments, which provide added detail and further legal certainty on the necessary conditions for the application of the derogations.

The three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) are launching a public consultation on updated Guidelines for the prudential assessment of acquisitions of qualifying holdings. The Guidelines define common procedures based on the assessment criteria laid down in the EU legislative framework that establishes how acquisitions and increases of qualifying holdings by natural or legal persons in financial institutions should be assessed. The Guidelines aim to harmonise supervisory practices in the financial sector across the EU and to provide more clarity to proposed acquirers on how they should notify the competent supervisory authorities.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its fourth annual Consumer Trends Report. The report, which covers all the products that fall into the EBA’s consumer protection mandate, such as mortgages, personal loans, deposits, payment accounts, payment services and electronic money, highlights the trends the EBA has observed with these products in 2015 and the issues that may arise, or have arisen, for consumers buying them. It also provides early indications as to the areas in which the EBA may take action going forward. In addition, the report summarises all the measures the EBA has taken to address these issues.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a series of lists in the field of credit risk, in accordance with the EU Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR). These lists will assist EU institutions in the determination of their capital requirements for credit risk.

The EBA presents its recommendations on a European Union (EU) framework for qualifying securitisations at a public hearing held in London today. The European Commission had requested in 2014 the EBA to advise on criteria for identifying a prudentially sound securitisation market and its regulatory treatment. The EBA, as one of the specialised EU agencies in banking and financial regulation, will deliver the opinion to the EC in early July and today’s hearing is intended to give advance information of its findings to market participants.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its 2014 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 years.