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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

Deferred tax assets related tax loss due to losses on derivatives in cash flow hedge accounting relationships

In accordance with Article 33(1)(a) CRR, institutions do not include fair value reserves related to gains or losses on cash flow hedges in own funds. Is it correct to also filter deferred tax assets related to the tax loss resulted from fair value reserves related to gains or losses on cash flow hedges?

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

Capital instruments eligible as Tier 2 Capital

Under the CRR, capital instruments and subordinated loans shall only qualify as Tier 2 instruments provided that the conditions outlined in Article 63 are met. This includes the condition that “the instruments are directly issued by an institution and fully paid up” as per Article 63(a). As further outlined in Annex II instruction to row 0771, such capital instruments also include subordinated loans insofar that they fulfil the eligibility criteria. We would like to request clarification on the eligibility criteria of Article 63(a) in the context of an amendment in the regulation’s text of Article 64, effected via CRR II (Regulation 2019/876). This clarification is sought with the aim of determining whether the “accrued interest” on subordinated debt may be eligible for inclusion as Tier 2 capital, having regard to Article 63(a) and Article 64 in particular.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2021/451 – ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)

Negative Goodwill

Positive Goodlwill ie where a firm has purchased an entity above book value, is deducted from CET1 to determine the elligible capital balance. However how should Negative Goodwill be treated ie where a firm has purchased an entity at a discount? The profit on the purchase goes through the purchasing firm's P&L so does that mean negative goodwill is elligible to be included in CET1 capital?

  • Legal act: Directive 2013/36/EU (CRD)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: EBA/GL/2016/10 - Guidelines on ICAAP and ILAAP information collected for SREP purposes

Prudential filters to the fair value reserves associated to Cash Flow Hedge

Does the prudential filter established in CRR Article 33(1) apply only to unrealised capital gains and losses?

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

Eligibility of convertible bonds for MREL

Would a convertible bond (Senior Non Preferred, Senior Preferred or Senior HoldCo) be deemed a structured note for the purpose of MREL eligible liabilities and therefore be excluded from MREL?

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

General Prior Permission (GPP) to call, redeem, repay or repurchase eligible liabilities pursuant to Article 78a(1) second subparagraph of the CRR .

Can the resolution authority allow - under specific conditions - institutions, to which a GPP has been granted, to consider the issuance of new eligible liabilities instruments during the authorization period for the purpose of calculating the unused part of the predetermined amount?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 241/2014 - RTS for Own Funds requirements for institutions

Calculation of a Prudent Value in combination with CET1-Deduction according to article 89 and 90 CRR

In case of applying article 89 CRR in combination with article 90 CRR for a risk exposure (asset) is there a requirement of calculating an additional valuation adjustument (AVA) although the calculated amount of CET1-deduction of the risk exposure already lowers CET1?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) 2016/101 - RTS for prudent valuation under Article 105(14) CRR

Scope of temporary treatment of unrealised gains and losses measured at fair value through other comprehensive income in view of the COVID-19 pandemic

Do exposures to “central governments, regional governments, local authorities and public sector entities” referred to in article 468 (1) of the CRR should be identified before or after applying credit risk mitigation techniques?Do exposures to “central governments, regional governments, local authorities and public sector entities” referred to in article 468 (1) of the CRR should be identified before or after applying credit risk mitigation techniques?

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

Netting of FSE holdings

Scope of EBA Q&A 2019_4517 with respect to trading book positions.

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

Netting of Financial Sector Entity (FSE) holdings

Is there a requirement to establish an additional credit risk exposure in case FSE deduction amounts are reduced by netting with eligible short FSE positions?

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

Capital increase without the issuance of new shares

Is a capital increase without the issuance of new shares in scope of article 26(3)?

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

Calculation of the amount of holdings of own Common Equity Tier 1 instruments on the basis of the net long position

How should the condition in  Article 42 a) i)  “(i) the long and short positions are in the same underlying exposure and the short positions involve no counterparty risk”  be applied when there are long and short positions on the same underlying reference with the same counterparty under the same master netting agreement ?   Are the single net amounts fixed by such contracts to be considered rather than the gross amounts?  Explanatory note: The master netting agreement we are considering complies with the conditions required under CRR (Article 206)    

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

Calculation of the amount of holdings of own Common Equity Tier 1 instruments on the basis of the net long position

Could it be assumed that short positions maintained with a Qualifying Central Counterparty do not involve counterparty risk according to Article 42 a) i) CRR and thus be netted for the purposes of the calculation of the amount of holdings of own Common Equity Tier I instruments to be deducted under point (f) of Article 36(1)?

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

Reduction of own funds according to Article 78(1)(a) CRR

If an institution applies for an own funds reduction with replacement pursuant to Article 78(1)(a) CRR, may such institution include in its own funds at the same time both the replacing instruments and the replaced instruments? Or should a request for a permission under Art 77 CRR be assessed according to Article 78(1)(b) CRR if the institution includes both the replaced and the replacing instruments at any point in time simultaneously in own funds, considering the consequent decrease of own funds that will occur when the replaced instrument is finally called back/repurchased, or redeemed?

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

Prudential filter on unrealised gains and losses corresponding to exposures to governments, local authorities and public sector entities and its interaction with hedging activities

Should institutions, remove from the calculation of their Common Equity Tier 1 items, the amount of unrealised gains and losses resulting from hedging the interest rate risk arising from exposures within the definition of paragraph 1of Article 468?

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

Minimum loss coverage for non-performing exposures under Article 469a

Where the terms and conditions of an exposure which was originated prior to 26 April 2019 are modified in a way that increases the institution’s exposure to the obligor, are all exposures to the obligor that was originated prior to 26 April 2019 also considered as having been originated on the date of the modification and subject to the provisions on the minimum loss coverage for non-performing exposures?

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

Treatment of "not designated elements" for the purpose of computing prudential capital requirements

Our entity will apply IFRS 9 provisions regarding hedge accounting to financial reporting starting from January 2022. IFRS 9 §6.5.15 and §6.5.16 introduce a new type of other comprehensive income: when using hedge accounting, an entity may separate some elements considered as a “cost of hedging”, and recognise them in other comprehensive income as “not designated elements”.  Commission Implementing Regulation 2021/451, in its template-related instructions (1.3 Equity §27), mentions that such elements shall be reported in a dedicated line “Hedging instruments [not designated elements]” for the purpose of FINREP. Specifically, this line is distinct from “Hedging derivatives. Cash flow hedges reserve [effective portion]”. However, cash flow hedge reserve and not designated elements are very similar elements: as an evidence, our entity will transfer amounts currently in cash flow hedge reserve to the new category “not designated elements”. We are therefore wondering the regulatory treatment  of “not designated elements” for the purpose of computing prudential capital requirements.  Cash flow hedges reserve shall not be included in any element of own funds (REGULATION (EU) No 575/2013 §33) Should “not designated elements” treatment be aligned on that of the cash flow hedge reserve ? or should “not designated elements” be included in prudential own funds ?  

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

Clause of substitution of investor or remarketing for capital or internal MREL

In the context of a bond issued by a subsidiary to the parent company recognized as Own Funds or Eligible Liability, would it be possible to insert a clause of change of control that would allow the parent company, if it is no longer the owner of the subsidiary, to automatically sell the bond to the purchaser of the subsidiary?

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

Netting of Financial Sector Entity (FSE) holdings

Is there a requirement to establish an additional credit risk exposure in case Financial Sector Entity (FSE) deduction amounts are reduced by netting with eligible short FSE positions?

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

Early redemption options

Would an early redemption option exercisable by the holder of the instrument cause such instrument to be ineligible altogether or would it merely result in its maturity being deemed shortened in accordance with Article 72c(2)?

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