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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

Continuation of current liquidity waivers

Clarification is needed as to the interim arrangements pending the introduction of the waiver/group treatments provided for under Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 (CRR).

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

Use of Core Market Participants Rule

This question regards the use of the Core Market Participants rule (Article 227 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)) in the context of Master Netting Agreements with Own Estimates of Volatility (Article 220). The rule detailed under Article 227 of CRR specifically excludes only the Internal Models Approach for Master Netting Agreements (Article 221), and is consistent with the Basel II text (June 2006) in which paragraph 170 excludes the same approach in paragraphs 178-181. However, paragraph 177 of the June 2006 text provides for repo-style transactions under master netting agreements to have haircuts calculated in accordance with paragraphs 147-172, inclusive of the core market participant rules. This is in contrast to the CRR, where article 220(1) is only inclusive of the volatility adjustments detailed in Articles 223-226, thereby excluding the core market participant rule. The question is whether this exclusion in the final CRR was intentional or an oversight.

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

Holdings of own funds instruments issued by financial sector entities included in the scope of consolidated supervision not deducted from own funds on an individual basis

According to Article 49(2) of Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 (CRR) “for the purposes of calculating own funds on an individual basis and a sub-consolidated basis, institutions subject to supervision on a consolidated basis in accordance with Chapter 2 of Title II of Part One shall not deduct holdings of own funds instruments issued by financial sector entities included in the scope of consolidated supervision, unless the competent authorities determine those deductions to be required for specific purposes, in particular structural separation of banking activities and resolution planning. Such provisions mean, if understood correctly, that starting from 1 January 2014, all significant investments in financial entities of a bank subgroup will not be deducted from own funds on an individual basis, but according to Article 49(4) of the CRR will be risk weighted according to Article 133 (for standardised approach). With the above in mind, what risk weight should be applied for such exposures? According to Article 133(2) of the CRR “equity exposures shall be assigned a risk weight of 100 %, unless they are required to be deducted in accordance with Part Two, assigned a 250 % risk weight in accordance with Article 48(4), assigned a 1250 % risk weight in accordance with Article 89(3) or treated as high risk items in accordance with Article 128.” In Article 133(2) of the CRR there is no reference to equity exposures treated under Article 49(2). Does this mean that such exposures should be treated simply with 100% risk weight?

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

January and February 2014 figures for the Q1 2014 leverage ratio reporting

Does the leverage ratio Q1 2014 reporting should include January 2014 and February 2014 data

  • 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)

Risk Retention

Can the retention requirements under Article 405 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) be satisfied by the provider of the junior/first loss funding for a CLO warehouse where such an entity has also been involved in the selection of the exposures and the setting of criteria, as it can be said, in such capacity, to be acting as "originator"? Also, where the warehouse provides financing for the acquisition of the majority of the exposures but further exposures are acquired from different sources after closing (and in accordance with pre-defined criteria), will this prevent the first loss warehouse provider from being the "originator"?

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

Group solvency template - columns 300 until 340

In order to determine the qualifying own funds for the different own funds elements (Common Equity Tier 1, Additional Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital), according to sub 1 of Articles 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, capital requirements should be taken into account. Suppose, the qualifying own funds of a non-regulated entity within the CRR scope of consolidation should be determined. Is our interpretation correct that, given the fact that no capital requirements exists for a non-regulated entity, the outcome of the calculation of the qualifying own funds of a non-regulated entity according to Articles 84, 85, 86, 87, 89 always equal zero?

  • 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)

Group solvency template - columns 120, 130 and 140

Annex I of the ITS on reporting (Own funds templates) states that the figures to be reported in column 120 (Own funds) of the Group Solvency template should be equal or equivalent to the own funds reported in row 0010 of the template CA1. We conclude from that, that column 120 of the Group Solvency template should comprise all Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital of the entity the respective row refers to. From Annex I of the ITS on reporting (Own funds templates) we understand that column 130 of the Group Solvency template should reflect instruments (including related retained earnings, share premium accounts and other reserves) that are owned by persons other than the undertakings included in the CRR consolidation. From the same ITS and its reference to Article 87 (i)(b) of CRR we assume that column 140 relates to all own funds instruments of the subsidiary that are included in Common Equity Tier 1, Additional Tier1 and Tier 2 items and the related share premium accounts, the retained earnings and other reserves. We assume that the difference between the figures to be reported in column 120 and 140 of the Group Solvency template is that column 120 reflects all Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital of the entity the respective row refers to, whereas in column 140 only the part of Tier 1 and Tier 2 capital that is included in the consolidated own funds of the reporting entity, should be reported. Could EBA confirm that this assumption is correct?

  • 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)

Consistency regarding the specification of the transition period according to Articles 469(1), 470(2) and 478(2) CRR

How can the applicable percentages of Article 478(2) CRR be applied for the purposes of Article 469(1)(c) CRR until 31.12.2023 provided that the provisions of Article 469(1)(c) and Article 470(2) CRR are applicable only until 31.12.2017?

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

Applying the two different applicable percentages of Articles 478(1) and 478(2) CRR to the amount exceeding the thresholds of Article 470(2) CRR

How should the two different applicable percentages of Articles 478(1) and 478(2) CRR be applied to the total amount required to be deducted according to Article 36(1)(c) and (i) CRR after applying Article. 470 CRR?

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

Applicable provisions for determining deferred tax assets that rely on future profitability that existed before 1.1.2014

Are the provisions of Article 26(2) CRR regarding independently verified financial statements and permission of competent authorities applicable for determining deferred tax asset that rely on future profitability that existed before 1.1.2014?

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

Applicable basis for determining deferred tax assets to be deducted from CET1

Is the amount of deferred tax assets and liabilities relevant for the calculation of the amount to be deducted from Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) according to Article 36(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 (CRR) to be determined based on the accounting values of deferred tax assets and liabilities as disclosed in the balance sheet?

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

Calculation of capital requirements for SME under Article 501 of CRR

How should the capital requirements be calculated for SME exposures according to Article 501 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)? In essence we are asking if the risk weighted assets for qualifying SMEs should be reduced or only the capital requirements for qualifying SMEs.

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

Does the "Excess of deduction from AT1 items over AT1 Capital" used for the calculation of the 17.65% threshold include the transitional additions for grandfathered instruments and instruments issued by subsidiaries

When calculating the applicable 17.65% threshold, is the "Excess of deduction from Additional Tier 1 (AT1) items over AT1 Capital" (Article 36(1)(j)of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)) supposed to be adjusted for the transitional adjustments made earlier in the process for grandfathered instruments and instruments issued by subsidiaries?

  • 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)

Maturity matching

Articles 45, 59 and 69 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) each include a condition that “the maturity of the short position matches the maturity of the long position or has a residual maturity of at least one year”, in order for the short position to be recognized for the calculation of the net long position. Please confirm that maturities are deemed to match for the purposes of these provisions where the maturity of the long and the short positions occur within the same calendar quarter.

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

Maturity matching

Articles 45(a), 59(a), 69(a) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) each include a condition that “the maturity of the short position matches the maturity of the long position or has a residual maturity of at least one year”, in order for the short position to be recognized for the calculation of the net long position. Please confirm that maturities are deemed to match for the purposes of these provisions where the maturity of the short position is greater than the maturity of the long position. Where the maturity of the short is greater than the maturity of the long the institution will only ever be left with a net short position (economically a forward starting short), all things being equal, and should not therefore have to take a deduction.

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

Meaning of Article 79 (b) of Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD)

What should standardised banks do in order to live up to CRD Article 79 (b)? Should standardised banks make their own assessment of the risk weights assigned to unrated counterparts? I.e. If a banking counterpart (institution) in a 0 % risk weight country is unrated and therefore assigned a risk weight of 20 % according to Article 121of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR), but an internal assessment shows that other comparable counterparts with a rating get assigned a 50 % risk weight according to Article 120 of CRR, what should the calculating institution do? Should the calculating institution overwrite the 20% with 50 % or should the calculating institution add the difference in risk weighted assets under Pillar II?

  • Legal act: Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable

Inclusion of incurred (IFRS) CVA in the IRB Provision shortfall calculation

Can the incurred CVA charge related to IRB exposures be treated as an eligible provision for the purposes of calculating the own funds reduction for IRB provision shortfall (per Article 159 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR))?

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

COREP templates to be submitted on a semi-annual basis.

The draft ITS (Articles 5(b), 6(b), 8(1)(b), 8(2)(b) and 12) and the CRR mention that OPR details, CR SEC details, Group Solvency and Losses on Immovable Properties templates are to be submitted on a semi annual basis. Can you confirm that the first reporting date for these templates will be 30 June 2014?

  • 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)

How shall an institute explain a rating decision?

Article 431, paragraph 4 says that "institutions shall, if requested, explain their rating decisions to SMEs and other corporate applicants for loans, providing an explanation in writing when asked." Shall this be interpreted as institutions shall show the exact probability of default for the applicants or the applicants rating on the institutions internal rating scales or in any other way?

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