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Q&As refer to the provisions in force on the day of their publication. The EBA does not systematically review published Q&As following the amendment of legislative acts. Users of the Q&A tool should therefore check the date of publication of the Q&A and whether the provisions referred to in the answer remain the same.

Please note that the Q&As related to the supervisory benchmarking exercises have been moved to the dedicated handbook page. You can submit Q&As on this topic here.

List of Q&A's

Treatment of cash provided as a collateral under issued guarantees and letters of credit

Should cash provided as a collateral under issued guarantees and letters of credit be included for the calculation of the total expected cash outflows under the LCR according to CRR Articles 421(1)a, 421(5)(a) or 422(2)(a)? If included, then should this collateral be treated as retail term deposits (term is being considered as the expiry of the issued L/C)? What outflow rate should be applied for such deposits?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61 - DR with regard to liquidity coverage requirement

MREL calculation on a consolidated basis

Should a Mortgage Credit Institution that is subject to an individual exemption to MREL requirements (according to BRRD Article 45(3)) and owned 100% by an EU Parent Institution be excluded from the calculation of MREL on a consolidated basis?

  • Legal act: Directive 2014/59/EU (BRRD)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Forbearance ITS

Should we consider a loan/exposure for which the contractual terms and conditions have been modified to help a debtor to face financial difficulties as forborne if there is no loss for the bank?Is there any materiality threshold for the loss to consider forbearance?To calculate the loss (i) should the bank compare the previous terms and conditions with the new terms and conditions or (ii) should the bank compare the new terms and conditions with the current terms and conditions for a debtor with a similar risk profile?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Asset encumbrance templates - Some cells are mapped with the same data point of other ones, but not all of them can be reported on a consolidated basis

Should be reported on a consolidated basis the cells related to F 36.01 and F 36.02 templates mapped with the same data point of the ones related to F 32.01 and F 32.02 templates, which have the coordinates specified below? In general, should columns 50 and 70 of templates F 36.01 and F 36.02 be reported on a consolidated basis?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Third countries considered to have supervisory arrangements equivalent to EU

Article 11 of Delegated Act 2015/61 specifies the conditions under which covered bonds can be considered buffer L2A eligible. For covered bonds issued by credit institutions in third countries, Article 11(1)(d)(ii) requires that “supervisory arrangements applied in the third country must be at least equivalent to those applied in the Union”. Could you please indicate us if a list of such countries will be made available?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61 - DR with regard to liquidity coverage requirement

Treatment of integer values in the 'days' columns

Reference is made to the AMM templates, particularly to template C68.00 weighted average maturity (columns 040 and 050); C69.00 (spread columns) and C70.00 average term (columns 300 -330). As you are aware, in line with the current instructions on these templates, the figures reported in these columns should be integers and do not carry any decimals. In this regard, a figure of, say, 0.6 days should be reported as 1. However, we would like to have your views regarding the reporting of positions in the case of figures less than 0.5 days. We are not sure whether these should be reported as 0 (to indicate that there is an amount of less than half a day), or else leave the cell blank as per current practice of monetary values.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

FINREP -contents of template F40.01 Group Structure

During the last reporting of 31/12/2015 we received a return from ACPR about the way of filling this template (Fin. 40.1), we are coming back to you because we need additional information to correct if necessary our last statement 31/12/2015.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Further clarification required on the inclusion of transactions between trade and settlement date

We would welcome further clarification on the reporting of transactions between trade and settlement dates (unsettled trades). Q&A 2013_378 implies that unsettled trades should be treated on a gross basis. However, it does make reference to underlying HQLA or non HQLA, Annex XXV (Part 2, Outflows and Part 3, Inflows) of the EBA-ITS-2015-04 on reporting for the LCR, provide specific remarks regarding forward starting transactions. In particular, the ITS provides guidance for inflows/outflows stemming from forward starting repos, reverse repos and collateral swaps, whereby, the inflow/outflow to be received/delivered shall be reported net of the market value of the asset to be delivered/received after the application of the related LCR haircut. This guidance is included in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU 2016/322 of 10 February 2016. However, there is no guidance on the treatment of unsettled outright purchases/sales of liquid assets.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Positions Subject to Capital Charge

COREP template C 18.00, column 050 - Can you please clarify what is expected to be reported in this field?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Clarification on EBA Final Q&A 2015_2469 / Exemption from bail-in of liabilities to institutions in order to avoid risk of systemic contagion

The answer to Q&A 2015_2469 clarifies that the exception to bail-in in Article 44(2)(e) of Directive 2014/59/EU (BRRD) captures inter-bank unsecured liabilities with an original maturity of less than seven days. Does this exception apply to all inter-institutional unsecured liabilities with an original maturity of less than seven days? In other words, does this exception also capture the liabilities of investment firms that are defined as institutions in Article 2(1)(23) BRRD, alongside the liabilities of other banks or credit institutions?

  • Legal act: Directive 2014/59/EU (BRRD)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Delta equivalent amount of cash-or-nothing digital (binary) options

Should the delta equivalent amount of cash-or-nothing digital (binary) options be limited to the maximum possible payment at expiry?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 528/2014 - RTS on non-delta risk of options in the standardised market risk approach

Assignment of exposures to exposure class of Public Sector Entities

Can only the entities having legal forms of non-profit associations and foundations qualify as PSE-s and be assigned to exposure class of PSEs, or could PSEs also include legal forms of either public or private limited liability companies, which are either owned by or set up and sponsored by central governments, regional governments or local authorities and are under public supervision?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Supervisory permission for reducing own funds if the institution repays share premium to its shareholders

Is supervisory permission required where an institution reduces its own funds by repaying share premium to its shareholders without simultaneously reducing, repurchasing, calling or redeeming the own funds instrument to which the share premium relates?Would the answer to this question change if the institution would first (have to) convert the share premium to reserves in order for the share premium to become repayable?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

General credit risk adjustment (GCRA) inclusion into Tier 2 capital

For the purpose of the inclusion into institutions' Tier 2 capital and in the event of interim profits or year-end profits that have not been approved in accordance with Article 26(2) CRR (a.k.a. "interim GCRAs"), are the general credit risk adjustments (GCRAs) required to be immediately deducted from institutions' CET1 capital?Are "interim GCRAs" eligible as a Tier 2 capital regardless either the fulfilment of Article 26(2) of CRR, or without immediate reduction from CET1 capital?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 183/2014 - RTS for the calculation of specific and general credit risk adjustments

Calculation of the ratio variable to fixed remuneration

Is it possible to value Long Term Instruments, included in the variable component, according to the IFRS 2 as accounting standard?In particular, IFRS 2 requires fair value accounting including consideration of the optional character of the Long Term instruments. Is this allowed by CRD IV and EBA GLs on sound remuneration?The question refers specifically to the calculation of the amount of variable remuneration for the purpose of the compliance-check with regard to the 200% bonus cap as transposed in the national law. In particular it refers to the value to be used for instruments, Long Term Instruments, included in the variable component. Is it possible to value them, according to the IFRS 2 as accounting standard? In particular, IFRS 2 requires fair value accounting including consideration of the optional character of the Long Term instrument, i.e. taking into account probability criteria, e.g. by means of Monte Carlo simulation with regard to optional elements of the Long Term instrument (e.g. future performance of shares)?

  • Legal act: Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: EBA/GL/2021/04 - Guidelines on sound remuneration policies under CRD (repealing EBA/GL/2015/22)

Difference between 'product type' and 'product category' and clarification on product type reporting (Annex XIX, part 1.3, template C 68.00)

Template C 68.00 seeks to collect information about the reporting institutions' concentration of funding by product type, broken down into the listed funding types. After giving a broken-down list of funding types, the ITS in point 1.3.2 establishes that ‘for the purpose of completing this template, institutions shall report the total amount of funding received from each product category, which exceeds a threshold of 1 % of total liabilities’.Later, in point 1.3.4 the ITS states that ‘for the purpose of determining those product types from which funding obtained is greater than 1% of total liabilities threshold, the currency is irrelevant’.The doubt arises because in point 1.3.2, the ITS talks about ‘product category whereas in point 1.3.4 and also in the rest of the template, the ITS uses ‘product types’. Although the spirit of the regulation may suggest that both refer to the same concept, it is not clear that ‘product category’ and ‘product type’ can be considered interchangeable and have the same meaning.In either case, some clarification is needed.1)     Therefore, what does the ITS mean by ‘product category’? Would it be the same meaning as ‘product type’? In either case, a complete description of what is understood as ‘product type’ or ‘product category’ would be helpful.2)     In this line, and assuming that product type and product category are the same, then, each row of template C 68.00 would be considered a different product type / product category?If so, are they exclusionary?If they are, what are the concepts that have priority?For instance, if we have an unsecured wholesale funding that is both i) of which financial customers and ii) of which from intra-group entities, under which type should it be reported?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Treatment of negative accrued interests in the foreign exchange risk

Do negative accrued interests reduce the fx position, where as positive accrued interests increase the fx position?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Treatment of negative accrued interests in the credit risk

Do negative accrued interests reduce the exposure value, whereas positive accrued interests increase the exposure value?In particular, are negative accrued interests deducted from CET1 and should a reduction be done, if the negative accrued interests are already included in the retained earnings, according to article 26(1)(c), or in the losses for the current financial year, according to Article 36 (1) a of CRR?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Clarification on "explicit guarantee arrangements"

The CRR definition of "“public sector entity" lists "has explicit guarantee arrangements" as one of the requirements, without further explaining or limiting this requirement. Does CRR require that all or the greater part of the entities liabilities feature an explicit guarantee by its owners or sponsor which the entity's creditors can call on? Or is "explicit guarantee arrangements" to be understood to also cover other explicit support arrangements like e.g. a guarantee on the entity's lendings for the benefit of the entity or a commitment by the owners/sponsors to guarantee the entity's ability to fulfil its obligations on its liabilities?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/61 - DR with regard to liquidity coverage requirement

Counterparty breakdown by sector – definition of other financial corporations and non financial corporations

Article 35 in Annex V of Finrep defines 'other financial corporations' as all financial corporations and quasi-corporations other than credit institutions such as investment firms, investment funds, insurance companies, pension funds, collective investment undertakings, and clearing houses as well as remaining financial intermediaries and financial auxiliaries; ‘Non-financial corporations’ are corporations and quasi-corporations not engaged in financial intermediation but principally in the production of market goods and non-financial services according to the ECB BSI Regulation. Subsidiaries set up within non – financial group to issue debt instruments or to perform liquidity management activities within the group should be considered as ‘other financial corporations’ or ‘Non-financial corporations’?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)