The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has proposed amendments to Regulation EE, which implements the netting provisions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991.  The proposed amendments would expand the definition of “financial institution” for purposes of the netting provisions to more clearly cover certain categories of entities and would clarify how the activities-based test under Regulation EE applies following the consolidation of legal entities.

Read more.

The Prudential Regulation Authority has released its first systemic risk buffer rates, which will apply from August 1, 2019. The rates determine the amount of additional regulatory capital which must be held by "systemic risk buffer institutions" (i.e. U.K. financial institutions which have been deemed to be systemically important). In scope firms are the so-called "ring-fenced bodies" within the meaning in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and include large building societies holding more than £25bn in deposits. The buffer applicable to each institution is intended to reflect the relative costs to the U.K. economy if the institution in question were to fall into distress.

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An EU Regulation amending the Capital Requirements Regulation introducing a statutory prudential backstop, and requiring banks to have minimum loan loss coverage for newly originated loans, has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Amending Regulation is part of the package of legislative and non-legislative measures proposed by the European Commission in March 2018 to address remaining and future non-performing loans in the EU.

The Amending Regulation builds on existing CRR provisions, requiring a deduction from own funds where non-performing exposures are not sufficiently covered. The Amending Regulation establishes a set of conditions for the classification of NPLs, which builds on the existing framework in the existing Implementing Technical Standards on Supervisory Reporting. It also makes provision for different levels of stringency depending on whether an exposure is collateralized or not and on the reason for the classification of an exposure as non-performing. National regulators will be able to use their supervisory powers under the Capital Requirements Directive to address situations in which a bank's NPLs are insufficiently covered by the backstop.

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The Independent Evaluation Office (the Bank of England's independent review body) has published its evaluation of the BoE's approach to concurrent stress testing of the U.K. banking system. It concluded that overall the BoE has delivered on its stated approach and that the tests are valued highly by policymakers. The IEO has, however, outlined opportunities for refinement in three key areas, which the BoE has confirmed it is committed to implementing.

In the wake of the global financial crisis, the BoE reviewed its stress testing policy for the U.K. banking system and in 2015 published its approach to "concurrent" stress testing (the practice of simultaneously testing the entire balance sheets of several banks) up to 2018. The BoE's approach includes two scenarios: the annual cyclical scenario, a countercyclical scenario in which the severity of the scenario increases as risks build, and the biennial exploratory scenario, probing risks not linked to the financial cycle.

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The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published a Policy Statement and related Supervisory Statement on enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing the financial risks from climate change. The statements are in response to the PRA’s consultation paper published in 2018 which sought feedback on the draft Supervisory Statement. The Statements are relevant to all U.K. insurance and reinsurance firms, banks, building societies and PRA-designated investment firms.

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The European Securities and Markets Authority has published an updated version of its supervisory briefing on appropriateness. The original appropriateness briefing was published in December 2012 to provide guidance to EU national regulators on the appropriateness requirements under the original Markets in Financial Instruments Directive. The updated appropriateness briefing reflects the amended requirements introduced by the revised Directive or MiFID II and takes into account the new version of ESMA's suitability guidelines published in May 2018 to the extent they are relevant to the appropriateness rules.

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An equivalence decision on the prudential and regulatory requirements in Argentina has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The equivalence decision means that EU banks may apply preferential risk weights and hold less regulatory capital for their exposures to Argentinian banks, investment firms, clearing houses, CCPs and exchanges as well as the Argentinian government, central bank and public bodies. Such an equivalence decision under CRR is one of the factors that a national regulator must take into account when deciding whether to adopt a domestic equivalence decision on consolidated supervision under the Capital Requirements Directive (i.e. whether to exercise consolidated supervision under EU rules to non-EU parents).

View the equivalence decision.

The European Commission has published its latest progress report on building of the Capital Markets Union. The CMU is an EU initiative which aims to deepen and further integrate the capital markets of Member States, further safeguard financial stability, strengthen the international role of the euro and diversify sources of finances for small and medium enterprises. The CMU aims to allow consumers to buy cheaper and better investment products, and enable financial services providers to scale up by offering services in other Member States.

The progress report notes that the CMU is an important Single Market project that will give increased access to capital for both companies and citizens, especially in smaller countries. A well-developed CMU increases the EU’s attractiveness to foreign investment and complements the EU’s agenda of free and fair trade. Broadly, the Commission has delivered measures that it had committed to take forwards at the beginning of the mandate and put in place certain "building blocks" of the CMU. However, the report notes that it may take time for the impact of the Commission’s actions to be realized.

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The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has opened a consultation proposing changes to the Pillar 2 capital requirements for banks and large investment firms.

Responses to the consultation may be submitted until June 13, 2019. The PRA is proposing to implement the changes from October 1, 2019.

The Pillar 2 capital for firms comprises Pillar 2A and Pillar 2B. Pillar 2A is a firm's capital requirement for certain risks, including credit risk, market risk, operational risk, counterparty credit risk, credit concentration risk and interest rate risk in the non-trading book. Pillar 2B is the PRA's buffer for each firm, in addition to the buffers required under the Capital Requirements Directive. The PRA's proposals relate to changes needed to its approach to setting the Pillar 2B buffer as a result of the Bank of England's changes to the stress testing framework. The proposals also aim to: (i) clarify the PRA's approach to assessing weaknesses in risk management and governance under Pillar 2B; and (ii) explain the process for updating the benchmarks used to calculate the Pillar 2A requirement for credit risk.

The changes would be implemented by updates to:

• Statement of Policy, "The PRA's methodologies for setting Pillar 2 capital";
• Supervisory Statement, "The Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process (ICAAP) and the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP)" (SS31/15); and
• Supervisory Statement, "Implementing CRD IV: Capital buffers" (SS6/14).

View the consultation paper.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority have published press releases following the first meeting of the Climate Financial Risk Forum on March 8, 2019. The CFRF is a joint forum established by the PRA and FCA in late 2018. The CFRF aims to encourage financial sector approaches towards managing the financial risks from climate change as well as supporting green finance. The CFRF will develop practical tools and approaches to reduce the barriers for firms looking to adopt a strategy for minimizing financial risks from climate change. The regulators are concerned with both the impact of climate change itself and the transition to supporting a low carbon economy. Both the FCA and the PRA consulted in late 2018 on the impact of climate change. The PRA consulted on a draft Supervisory Statement on managing the financial risks from climate change and the FCA consulted on climate change and green finance and the potential changes to its regulatory approach to these issues. The FCA consultation set out specific actions that the FCA intends to take in the short term in four areas - capital markets disclosures, public reporting requirements, green finance and pensions.

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The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published final rules and an updated Supervisory Statement alongside a Policy Statement on the definition of default for credit risk. The EU Capital Requirements Regulation's risk quantification provisions set out that a default occurs when an obligor is past due more than 90 days on any material credit obligation to a firm, its parent or any of its subsidiaries. The materiality of the credit commitment is to be assessed against a threshold set by the national regulator according to its view of a reasonable level of risk.

The European Banking Authority developed a roadmap in 2016 to address concerns about the variability of own funds requirements arising from the internal models that firms use to calculate their minimum credit risk capital requirements under the CRR. The PRA is adopting a two-stage approach to implementing the EBA's roadmap. This first stage concerns the definition of default. The PRA will consult later on implementation of the second stage on PD and LGD estimation, once the EBA's regulatory products on this topic have been finalized.

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The European Banking Authority has published a report and final Guidelines on the estimation of LGD appropriate for an economic downturn in compliance with the Capital Requirements Regulation, the Regulatory Technical Standards on the internal ratings-based assessment methodology and the final draft RTS on the specification of an economic downturn.

The Guidelines will apply from January 1, 2021 and firms should incorporate these requirements in their rating systems by that time. However, national regulators may bring forward, at their discretion, this deadline. The EBA Guidelines remind firms that the use of own estimates of LGD appropriate for an economic downturn is subject to approval by their home state regulator.

The Guidelines specify how LGD estimates appropriate for an economic downturn - identified in accordance with the draft RTS on economic downturn - should be quantified, taking into account the specificities of firm processes, underwriting standards and general response to adverse economic conditions. The Guidelines supplement the existing EBA Guidelines on Probability of Default, LGD estimation and treatment of defaulted assets.

The publication of these Guidelines marks the completion of the EBA's 2016 roadmap, designed to address concerns about the variability of own funds requirements arising from the internal models that firms use to calculate their minimum credit risk capital requirements under the CRR.

View the final report and guidelines.

View details of the EBA's consultation on the guidelines.

On February 27-28^th, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision met to discuss policy and supervisory issues, and the extent to which members had implemented post-financial crisis reforms.

The Committee noted the implementation status of margin requirements for uncleared derivatives and it will publish in March a joint statement with the International Organization of Securities Commissions on certain implementation aspects of margin requirements.

Read more.

The European Banking Authority has published a consultation paper concerning proposed guidelines on credit risk mitigation for firms using the advanced internal ratings based approach with own estimates for loss given default. The consultation follows the EBA's report on the CRM framework, published in March 2018, which should be read in conjunction with the consultation paper. Responses to the consultation should be submitted by May 25, 2019. 

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The European Banking Authority has published revised Guidelines on outsourcing arrangements. The guidelines are intended to update and replace outsourcing guidelines issued in 2006 (by the EBA's predecessor, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors) on outsourcing by credit institutions. The EBA Guidelines have a wider scope, applying to all financial institutions that are within the scope of the EBA's mandate, namely credit institutions and investment firms subject to the Capital Requirements Directive, as well as payment institutions and electronic money institutions. The investment firms within scope, provided that the new Investment Firm Regulation and Directive and related changes to CRD and the Capital Requirements Regulation have entered into force, will only be the largest investment firms (Class 1 Investment Firms). The Guidelines also integrate the recommendation on outsourcing to cloud service providers that was published by the EBA in December 2017. Both the 2006 guidelines and the December 2017 recommendations will be repealed when these new Guidelines enter into force.

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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has completed the review of its 2008 Principles for sound liquidity risk management and supervision. The Basel Committee has concluded that the Principles do not require revision. The Committee expects both supervisors and banks to remain attentive to liquidity risks in the financial markets. Banks should take into account developments since 2008 that may impact their liquidity risk management considerations. These developments include, for example, increasing digitisation of finance and payment systems, an increased use of central clearing of derivatives and margining and the increasing significance of cyber-attacks.

View the announcement.

View the 2008 Principles.

The Eurozone Single Resolution Board has published the second wave of its 2018 minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities as part of resolution planning required under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive and related Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation. The SRB published the first wave of the 2018 MREL requirements in November which applied to banks that did not have binding MREL targets in 2017. 

Read more.

Following its consultation from March to June last year, the Basel Committee on Banking Standards has announced the final revisions to the Basel III market risk capital framework. At the same time, it has also announced its 2019 priorities.

The objective of the Basel market risk framework is to ensure that banks hold enough regulatory capital to protect against losses arising from movements in market prices of instruments held in their trading book. Certain changes to the 2016 market risk framework are to:
 

1. Clarify the scope of application. The Committee has provided further guidance on the regulatory book to which instruments should be assigned in circumstances where instruments could go into more than one book and has revised the treatment of structural foreign currency positions. The revised framework also allows equity investments in funds to be allocated to the trading book, provided that a bank: (i) is able to "look through" to the fund's underlying assets; or (ii) has access both to daily price quotes and to the information contained in the mandate of the fund.
2. Revise the internal model approach to address implementation challenges, in particular, by amending the profit and loss attribution (PLA) test metric and failure consequence.
3. Amend the standardized model approach. The approach to measuring risk factor losses was too high in relation to the actual risk and there was unnecessary operational burden. The changes in the standardized approach include widening the scope of currency pairs that are considered liquid in the FX risk class to ensure more currency pairs are subject to lower risk weights and introducing new "index" buckets for equity and credit spread risks so that each underlying position in an index does not need to be identified.

Read more.

The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has launched a consultation on proposed amendments to its Supervisory Statement on credit risk mitigation to clarify its expectations around the eligibility of financial collateral. The consultation paper is relevant for banks, building societies and PRA-designated U.K. investment firms that are subject to the Capital Requirements Regulation. The consultation closes on April 10, 2019.

Read more.

The European Banking Authority has published a press release calling for firms to take more action in their Brexit-related communications with customers. The U.K. will depart the EU without a transitional period on March 30, 2019 if the withdrawal agreement is not ratified by that time. In June 2018, the EBA issued an Opinion that stressed the need for firms to consider their obligations to existing and prospective customers. It set out a list of minimum information that national regulators should ensure firms send to customers whose contracts or services might be affected by the end of the year. In its press release, the EBA urges firms to consider the June 2018 Opinion and to communicate to customers the risks and effects that a no-deal Brexit may have on a customer's contract with the firm.

View the press release.

View details of the EBA's June 2018 Opinion.

The European Banking Authority has published two sets of finalized guidelines under the Securitization Regulation which, along with targeted amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation, forms part of the new EU Securitization Framework for simple, transparent and standardized securitizations from January 2019. Originators and sponsors will be required to notify the European Securities and Markets Authority of any securitization that meets the STS criteria to be able to use the "STS" designation. ESMA will maintain a list of all such securitizations on its website.

Read more.

The U.K. Securitization Regulations 2018 have been laid before Parliament and will come into force on January 1, 2019. The Regulations implement the EU Securitization Regulation (also known as the STS Regulation) into U.K. law.

The EU Securitization Regulation provides the criteria for identifying which securitizations will be designated as simple, transparent and standardized securitizations, a system to monitor the application of those criteria and common requirements on risk retention, due diligence and disclosure. It also allows (but does not require) originators, sponsors and securitization special purpose entities to use third-party firms to assess whether a securitization meets the STS criteria, provided that those firms are authorized by the relevant national regulator. Originators, sponsors or original lenders of a securitization will be required to retain on an ongoing basis a material net economic interest in the securitization of at least 5%. Related amendments to the Capital Requirements Regulation set out preferential regulatory treatment for investors, in particular, for bank investors, of their exposures to securitizations that are deemed to be STS securitizations.

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The European Supervisory Authorities have issued a joint statement addressing two issues arising from the Securitization Regulation. The Securitization Regulation will apply directly across the EU from January 1, 2019 to securities issued under securitizations on or after January 1, 2019. Securitizations issued before that date may be referred to as STS securitizations, provided that they meet certain conditions.

The first issue addressed in the joint statement relates to disclosure requirements for EU securitizations. The Securitization Regulation requires originators and sponsors to notify ESMA of any securitization that meets the "Simple, Transparent and Standardized" criteria. ESMA will maintain a list of all such securitizations on its website. Securitization special purpose entities, originators and sponsors of a securitization will be required to make certain information available via a securitization repository to holders of a securitization position, to the national regulators and, upon request, to potential investors. The European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Commission still have to address a number of market concerns on the proposed ESMA disclosure templates (that will be introduced as Technical Standards under the Regulation) as part of these transparency requirements. This is a process that will not be concluded by January 1, 2019.

Read more.

Central bankers and banking supervisors from over eighty jurisdictions met this week in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to discuss a range of policy and supervisory topics.

On November 26-27, 2018 there was a meeting of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision at which it was agreed that a consultation would take place next year to discuss a framework to consolidate the Committee's standards into a single integrated structure. Moreover, a number of items were agreed:

• A set of targeted revisions to the market risk framework which is due to be implemented by January 1, 2022.
• A consultation on potential enhanced disclosures to reduce bank window-dressing behaviour related to leverage ratio will be pursued. The Basel Committee issued a statement in October declaring unacceptable the alleged tendency in banks to engage in so-called window-dressing by temporarily reducing transaction volumes around key reference dates, which has supposedly the effect of allowing banks to report and publicly disclose better leverage ratios.
• A set of revisions to the Pillar 3 disclosure framework will be published in December.
• A report will be published in December setting out the range of bank, regulatory and supervisory cyber-resilience practices across jurisdictions.

View the press release.

View details of the Basel Committee's consultation on the revised market risk framework.

The Financial Conduct Authority has published a report entitled "Cyber and Technology Resilience: Themes from cross-sector survey 2017-2018." The FCA compiled the report by requesting 296 firms during 2017 and 2018 to provide a self-assessment of their cyber and technological capabilities, focusing on governance, delivery of change management, managing third-party risks and the effectiveness of cyber defenses. The FCA analyzed the responses and considered data from firm's responses to recent operational incidents to produce the report.

Read more.

The U.K. Treasury Committee has announced the launch of a new Inquiry into IT failures in the financial services sector. The Inquiry has been launched in response to recent IT failures at a number of financial institutions that have led to consumers being unable to access their bank accounts or becoming subject to fraud.

The Committee will assess the causes and consequences of these recent IT failures. Among other things, the Committee will consider the extent to which such incidents are becoming more frequent, sources of concentration risk in the financial sector, the impact of legacy IT systems, the effect of outsourcing on operational resilience, best practices in responding to operational incidents and whether the U.K. regulators are able to regulate firms' capabilities for responding to such incidents.

Written submissions can be made to the Committee by January 18, 2019. The Committee will also appoint a special advisor to provide policy advice to the Committee on the issues. Individuals interested in the role should respond to the call for Expressions of Interest.

View the announcement.

The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published a consultation paper entitled "The systemic risk buffer: Updates to the Statement of Policy," proposing minor updates to its Statement of Policy, "The PRA’s approach to the systemic risk buffer." The consultation is relevant to "SRB institutions," which are: (i) ring-fenced bodies within the meaning in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000; or (ii) large building societies that hold more than £25 billion in deposits (where one or more of the account holders is a small business) and shares (excluding deferred shares).
 
The PRA proposes to amend the Statement of Policy to:
 

• remove the statement that the PRA’s approach to reviewing the SoP every two years is mandated by the SRB regulations;
• replace references to the PRA's April 2018 consultation, "The PRA’s methodologies for setting Pillar 2 capital," with references to the finalized Statement of Policy that was subsequently published; and
• include references to the PRA's Supervisory Statement, "UK leverage ratio framework," that was recently updated to apply an additional leverage ratio buffer rate to SRB institutions.

 
As the proposals are of only a minor nature, the consultation period is short and comments on the consultation paper are invited by December 6, 2018.
 
View the consultation paper (PRA CP 29/18).
 
Return to main website.

The Eurozone Single Resolution Board has published its 2018 Policy Statement for firms’ minimum requirements for own funds and eligible liabilities under the first wave of 2018 resolution plans to be adopted under the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive. The SRB is responsible for ensuring the compliance of Eurozone banks that are subject to the Single Resolution Mechanism (primarily Eurozone countries) with the Single Resolution Mechanism Regulation and BRRD. As part of this function, the SRB works with national regulators to determine relevant institutions’ MREL requirements. The purpose of the Policy Statement is to provide clarity for Eurozone banks on the SRB’s determination of 2018 MREL targets.

Read more.

A final joint report on the incentives to clear OTC derivatives has been published by the Financial Stability Board, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures. The report is part of the FSB's post-implementation evaluation of the effects of the G20 financial regulatory reforms.

The report sets out the results of an evaluation of the reforms that have been implemented to incentivize central clearing of OTC derivatives and outlines areas for further consideration by the global standard setting bodies. The reforms considered include mandatory clearing requirements, capital, liquidity and margin requirements, as well as the reforms to CCP resilience, recovery and resolution.

Read more.

The Financial Stability Board has published the 2018 list of global systemically important banks. Alongside the 2018 G-SIB list, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has published further information relating to its 2018 assessment of G-SIBs, including:

• a list of all the banks in the assessment sample;
• the denominators of each of the 12 high-level indicators used to calculate the banks' scores;
• the 12 high-level indicators for each bank in the sample used to calculate these denominators;
• the cut-off score used to identify G-SIBs in the updated list and the thresholds used to allocate G-SIBs to buckets for the purpose of calculating the specific higher loss absorbency requirements; and
• links to disclosures of all banks in the assessment sample.

The Basel Committee assessment was based on its 2013 methodology for identifying G-SIBs. The revised 2018 assessment methodology will apply from 2021, based on end-2020 data and the corresponding higher loss absorbency requirements will apply from January 1, 2023.

View the 2018 G-SIB list.

View details of the revised assessment framework for G-SIBs.

The European Banking Authority has published final draft Regulatory Technical Standards on the specification of the nature, severity and duration of an economic downturn in accordance with the Capital Requirements Regulation. The aim of the RTS is to ensure that institutions using the Internal Ratings-Based approach to calculating capital requirements can use a well-defined and common specification of the nature, duration and severity of an economic downturn for portfolios relating to comparable types of exposure.

The nature of the economic downturn is defined as a set of relevant economic factors and its severity is specified via the most severe values observed on the relevant economic factors over a given historical period. The duration of an economic downturn is specified using the concept of a "downturn period," namely the period of time where the peaks or troughs, which relate to the most severe values of one or several economic factors, are observed.

Read more.

The European Central Bank has published the final first chapter of its guide to internal models. The Capital Requirements Regulation requires the ECB to assess and grant permission for banks directly supervised by the ECB to use internal models for credit risk, counterparty credit risk and market risk. The ECB's guide sets out how the ECB intends to approach the assessment of whether a firm meets the necessary requirements for the permission to be granted. This chapter is on general topics, comprising overarching principles for internal models, implementation of the internal ratings-based approach, internal model governance, internal validation and audit, model use, change management and third-party involvement. The ECB recently consulted on model-specific chapters, including for credit, market and counterparty credit risks.

The ECB notes that the guide may need to be amended if the European Commission adopts a different version of the European Banking Authority's final Draft Regulatory Technical Standards on assessment methodology for the IRB approach.

View the guide.

View the feedback statement.

The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published a Policy Statement setting out its approach to supervision under the new EU securitization framework that will take effect from January 1, 2019. The PRA consulted on its proposals in May 2018. The incoming EU framework consists of: (i) the Securitization Regulation, which imposes general requirements for all EU securitization activity and outlines the criteria and process for designating certain securitizations as "Simple, Transparent and Standardised"; and (ii) revisions to the banking securitization capital framework within the Capital Requirements Regulation. Respondents to the PRA's consultation on its approach were largely supportive. The PRA has made some changes (outlined in the Policy Statement) to its consultation text in line with comments received.

Read more.

The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published a Policy Statement on applying the U.K. leverage ratio to systemic Ring-fenced Bodies and reflecting the Systemic Risk Buffer. The SRB is one of the elements of the overall capital framework for U.K. banks and building societies. It will be applied by the PRA to individual institutions and introduced at the same time that ring-fencing comes into force in 2019. RFBs are banks that hold more than £25 billion in core deposits. They must separate their core retail banking business from their investment banking business by January 1, 2019.

Read more.

The European Central Bank has published two finalized Guides, one on the internal capital adequacy assessment process (ICAAP) and the other on the internal liquidity adequacy assessment process (ILAAP). The ECB consulted on draft versions of the Guides between March and May 2018. The Guides, which are relevant to institutions within the Single Supervisory Mechanism, are designed to assist institutions in strengthening their ICAAPs and ILAAPs and encourage the use of best practices by explaining in greater detail the ECB's expectations.

The ICAAP and ILAAP Guides each set out seven principles that have been derived from the relevant provisions of the Capital Requirements Directive and that will be considered, among other things, by the ECB in the assessment of each institution's ICAAP or ILAAP as part of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process. Frequently Asked Questions have also been published alongside the Guides, along with consultation responses received and a feedback statement.

The ECB intends to use the guides to assess significant institutions' ICAAPs and ILAAPs from January 1, 2019.

View the ICAAP Guide.

View the ILAAP Guide.

View the FAQs.

View the consultation responses.

View the feedback statement.

A Commission Implementing Regulation supplementing the Capital Requirements Regulation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Implementing Regulation amends the existing Implementing Regulation ((EU) No 680/2014) to reflect the gradual supplementation and amendment of elements of the CRR reporting requirements by the adoption of further Regulatory Technical Standards. The Amending Regulation was adopted by the European Commission on October 9, 2018. It amends the existing Implementing Regulation to set out:

• additional requirements relating to prudent valuation adjustments of fair-valued positions;
• additional requirements to accommodate the reporting on securitization positions subject to the revised securitization framework; and
• minor changes to the reporting requirements on the geographical distribution of exposures.

The Amending Regulation will enter into force on November 29, 2018 and will apply directly across the EU from December 1, 2018.

View Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1627.

The European Banking Authority has published a final report setting out finalized Guidelines on management of non-performing exposures (NPEs) and forborne exposures (FBEs). The EBA consulted on a draft of the Guidelines in March 2018. The aim of the Guidelines is to help to reduce NPEs on banks' balance sheets by providing supervisory guidance to ensure that credit institutions effectively manage NPEs and forborne exposures (FBEs) on their balance sheets.

The final Guidelines cover: (i) key elements for developing and implementing an NPE strategy; (ii) the key elements of governance and operations in relation to an NPE workout framework; (iii) governance and operations in relation to FBEs; (iv) governance and operations for NPE recognition; (v) NPE impairment measurement and write-offs; (vi) collateral valuation of immovable and movable property; and (vii) supervisory evaluation of management of NPEs and FBEs.

The Guidelines will apply from June 30, 2019. Credit institutions should calculate their NPL ratios using the reference date of December 31, 2018.

View the final report.

View details of the EBA's consultation on the Guidelines.

The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published an updated version of its document entitled "The Prudential Regulatory Authority's approach to banking supervision." The document replaces the previous version that was dated March 2016.

In the latest update, the PRA has removed duplicative information and replaced some text with links to information contained in legislation or other material on the PRA's or Bank of England's website. The update includes a new foreword by the PRA's Chief Executive Officer, Sam Woods.

The update includes two new chapters, on identifying the risks to the PRA's objectives and on how the PRA tailors its supervisory approach. A number of new sections to existing chapters have also been added, covering safety and soundness and the stability of the financial system, the PRA's regulatory principles and operational resilience. Further detail in areas such as capital and resolvability is also added.

View the Updated Approach Document.

An Amending Regulation supplementing the Capital Requirements Regulation has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union, following its adoption in July 2018 by the European Commission. The Amending Regulation, which relates to the Liquidity Coverage Requirement for credit institutions, makes changes to the existing Delegated Regulation on the LCR with the objective of improving its practical application. The existing Delegated Regulation sets out detailed requirements on the LCR and specifies which assets are to be considered as liquid (so-called high quality liquid assets) and how the expected cash outflows and inflows over a 30-day stressed period are to be calculated.

The Amending Regulation makes the following changes:

• full alignment of the calculation of the expected liquidity outflows and inflows on repurchase agreements, reverse repurchase agreements and collateral swaps transactions with the international liquidity standard developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision;
• treatment of certain reserves held with third-country central banks;
• waiver of the minimum issue size for certain non-EU liquid assets;
• the application of the unwind mechanism for the calculation of the liquidity buffer; and
• integration in the existing Delegated Regulation of the new criteria for simple, transparent and standardized securitizations.

The Amending Regulation will enter into force on November 19, 2018 and will apply directly across the EU from April 30, 2020.

View the Amending Regulation.

The Joint Committee of the European Securities Authorities (that is, the European Banking Authority, the European Securities and Markets Authority and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) has published a consultation paper setting out proposed revisions to Implementing Technical Standards on the mapping of External Credit Assessment Institutions' credit assessments under the Capital Requirements Regulation.

The proposed revisions will amend the existing Implementing Regulation ((EU) 2016/1799), which sets out how ECAIs' credit assessments should be "mapped" to credit quality steps for the purposes of calculating capital requirements. The proposed amendments reflect the result of a monitoring exercise on the adequacy of mappings, which necessitates amendments related to: (i) the re-allocation of the credit quality steps for two ECAIs; and (ii) changes in credit rating scales/types for ten ECAIs. The consultation webpage also contains mapping reports for each of the 11 ECAIs concerned.

Comments on the consultation are invited by December 31, 2018. Respondents are asked to provide comments via the "Send your comments" button on the EBA's consultation webpage.

View the consultation paper.

View the EBA's consultation webpage.

The European Banking Authority has published its Work Programme for 2019, setting out details of, and planned main outputs from, 37 separate work streams across the following five key strategic priorities:
 

1. Leading the Basel III implementation in the EU.
2. Understanding risks and opportunities arising from financial innovation.
3. Collecting, disseminating and analyzing banking data.
4. Ensuring a smooth relocation of the EBA to Paris.
5. Fostering the increase of the loss-absorbing capacity of the EU banking system.

The EBA also confirms that work related to Brexit will remain a horizontal priority for the EBA in 2019 and explains that the EBA's other activities may be affected in the future by Brexit-related developments. Should that be the case, any substantial change in the work programme will be communicated in due time, in order to seek steering and approval from its Management Board and Board of Supervisors.

View the EBA's 2019 Work Programme.

The European Commission has published a Communication, outlining its work plan for 2019. The Communication is addressed to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. The Communication discusses the ongoing challenges for the EU in the run-up to the European Parliamentary elections and the post-Brexit Summit in Sibiu at which a new multi-annual framework for the EU27 will be finalized.

Separately published Annexes to the Communication relating to: (i) new initiatives; (ii) REFIT initiatives; (iii) priority pending proposals; (iv) legislative initiatives that have been withdrawn; and (v) a list of envisaged repeals. Priority pending proposals of particular relevance to financial institutions include legislative proposals relating to the forthcoming sustainable finance package, cross-border distribution of collective investment schemes, crowdfunding, amendments to the European Market Infrastructure Regulation, prudential regulation and supervision of investment firms and a proposed amending regulation relating to minimum loss coverage for non-performing exposures.

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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has published a consultation paper entitled "Leverage ratio treatment of client-cleared derivatives," seeking views from stakeholders on whether a targeted and limited revision of the leverage ratio exposure measure is warranted with respect to the treatment of client cleared derivatives.

On the publication of the finalized Basel III framework in December 2017, the Basel Committee stated that it would continue to monitor the impact of the Basel III leverage ratio’s treatment of client-cleared derivative transactions. It confirmed that it would review the impact of the leverage ratio on banks’ provision of clearing services and any consequent impact on the resilience of central counterparty clearing. The Basel Committee has completed its review and is of the view that only a strong evidence-based case would justify making revisions to the current leverage ratio treatment of client cleared derivatives.

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The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has issued a statement on leverage ratio "window-dressing" behavior by banks.

To comply with the Basel III leverage ratio standard, among other things, banks are required to publicly disclose their leverage ratio, calculated on a quarter-end basis, or more frequently in certain jurisdictions. The Basel Committee has noted what may be a tendency in banks to engage in so-called window-dressing by temporarily reducing transaction volumes around key reference dates, which has the effect of allowing banks to report and publicly disclose higher leverage ratios.

The Basel Committee states that window dressing is unacceptable as it undermines the policy objectives of the leverage ratio standard and risks disrupting the operations of financial markets. The Basel Committee calls on banks to desist from undertaking transactions for window-dressing purposes and makes several suggestions for actions by supervisors to address these concerns. These include increasing the frequency of reporting and supervisory monitoring, focused supervisory inspections and/or additional public disclosures. The Basel Committee will continue to monitor potential window-dressing behavior and may consider adjusting the Pillar 1 minimum capital requirements and/or Pillar 3 disclosure requirements if necessary.

View the Basel Committee's Statement.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has published a final version of its Stress Testing Principles, which replace its 2009 Principles for Stress Testing and Supervision. The Basel Committee conducted a review of the 2009 Principles during 2017 and launched a consultation on proposed revisions in December 2017.

The new principles reflect the growth in importance of stress testing since the 2009 version was produced and its evolution into a critical element of risk management for banks as well as a core tool for both banking supervisors and macroprudential authorities.

The new principles are also set at a higher level than the previous version, so that the principles can apply across many banks and jurisdictions and so that they are robust to developments in stress testing practices. The principles focus on the core elements of stress testing frameworks, including the objectives, governance, policies, processes, methodology, resources and documentation that guide stress testing. Each principle is followed by a short description of considerations that are equally relevant for banks and authorities, along with additional considerations for banks or authorities.

View the Stress Testing Principles.

The Prudential Regulation Authority has published a consultation paper on a draft Supervisory Statement on managing the financial risks from climate change. The consultation follows the PRA's publication in September 2018 of its report "Transition in thinking: The impact of climate change on the U.K. banking sector." The consultation paper is relevant to banks, insurers, re-insurers, building societies and PRA-designated investment firms. The PRA wants firms to take a strategic approach to financial risks from climate change by taking into account current and credible risks and identifying actions needed now to mitigate existing and future risks.

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The U.K. Prudential Regulation Authority has published a consultation proposing a six-month overlap period following the introduction of the new Pillar 2 Liquidity reporting template (PRA110) from July 1, 2019. The Capital Requirements Directive gives national regulators discretion to set additional Pillar 2 liquidity requirements, to capture those liquidity risks that are either not captured or not fully captured under the Pillar 1 framework. The final element - Pillar 3 - involves public reporting of capital. The PRA published its final Policy Statement on the introduction of its Pillar 2 framework in February 2018. The PRA110 template was scheduled to replace the existing "daily flows" and "enhanced mismatch" liquidity reports (FSA047 and FSA048) from July 1, 2019.

Since its Policy Statement, the PRA has reassessed the risks from transitioning to the PRA110 template and considers it prudent to delay the termination of FSA047 and FSA048, to ensure data quality and continuity. The PRA proposes that the PRA110 is introduced on July 1, 2019 as planned. However, between then and January 1, 2020, firms should additionally continue to submit liquidity reports using FSA047 and FSA048. The overlap will allow the PRA and firms alike to assess the quality of PRA110 reporting.

The PRA is inviting comments on the proposal by November 12, 2018. The PRA considers that the short consultation period is justified due to the fact that firms are already reporting using FSA047 and FSA048.

View the consultation paper (PRA CP22/18).

View details of the PRA's Pillar 2 Policy Statement.

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority has published its first consultation on proposed changes to the FCA Handbook to ensure a functioning legal and regulatory framework for financial services in the event of a "no-deal" scenario whereby the U.K. exits the EU on March 29, 2019 without a ratified Withdrawal Agreement in place and there is consequently no transitional period for firms. The proposed amendments will not take effect if the U.K. enters into a transitional period after exit day.

The consultation includes the FCA's proposals in relation to the Binding Technical Standards it has been empowered by HM Treasury to amend prior to Brexit and to maintain afterward. These are the retained EU "Level 2" delegated and implementing regulations that set out regulatory technical standards and implementing technical standards. The consultation also sets out the FCA's proposed approach to non-legislative "Level 3" materials such as guidelines, recommendations and opinions that will also be onshored.

The FCA states in the consultation that the majority of the proposed changes are consequential in nature and follow the amendments to retained EU law that HM Treasury is proposing, as set out in the series of financial services-related statutory instruments being made under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018.

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The Financial Policy Committee has published a statement from its meeting held on October 3, 2018 where it reviewed developments since June 19, 2018. The FPC continues to consider that the U.K. banking system is sufficiently robust to withstand the disruption of a "hard Brexit" and that there is no need for additional capital buffers for banks as a result. The FPC is of the view that the banking system would be able to absorb, in addition to a disorderly Brexit, further costs that might arise from trade tensions. However, the FPC is concerned about the lack of action taken by EU authorities to address the risks of disruption in the event of the U.K. leaving the EU without a deal on March 29, 2019. In particular, the FPC would like mitigating action to be taken to address the risks associated with derivatives contracts and the transfer of personal data.

Aside from the risks presented by Brexit, the FPC considers that domestic risks are still at a standard level overall. However, the FPC is concerned about the swift growth of leveraged lending and intends to: (i) assess the implications for banks in the 2018 stress test; and (ii) review the impact of the increasing role of non-bank lenders and changes in the distribution of corporate debt. The FPC has decided to maintain the U.K. countercyclical capital buffer rate at 1% and will review the rate again at its meeting on November 28, 2018.

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The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation published a notice and request for comment seeking input on how to improve the efficacy, efficiency and transparency of the agency’s communication with insured depository institutions.  The notice outlines current forms of communication, including, regulations, policies, procedures and guidance; news and updates; industry data, educational materials and outreach; general communication; and direct communication.  The notice requests comment with respect to the efficiency, ease of access and content of communications with insured financial institutions.  Comments to the FDIC’s notice are due no later than December 4, 2018.

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