17.11.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 302/97

(1)

In accordance with the European Council and Ecofin Conclusions and international initiatives such as the Group of Twenty (G-20) summit on 2 April 2009, this Directive represents a first important step to address shortcomings revealed by the financial crisis ahead of further initiatives announced by the Commission and set out in Commission Communication of 4 March 2009 entitled ‘Driving European recovery’.

(2)

Article 3 of Directive 2006/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (4) allows Member States to provide for special prudential regimes for credit institutions which are permanently affiliated to a central body since 15 December 1977, provided that those regimes were introduced into national law by 15 December 1979. Those time limits prevent Member States, especially those which acceded to the European Union since 1980, from introducing or maintaining such special prudential regimes for similarly affiliated credit institutions which were set up on their territories. It is therefore appropriate to remove the time limits set out in Article 3 of that Directive, in order to ensure equal conditions for competition between credit institutions in Member States. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors should provide for guidelines in order to enhance the convergence of supervisory practices in this regard.

(3)

Hybrid capital instruments play an important role in the ongoing capital management of credit institutions. Those instruments allow credit institutions to achieve a diversified capital structure and to access a wide range of financial investors. On 28 October 1998, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision adopted an agreement on both the eligibility criteria and limits to inclusion of certain types of hybrid capital instruments in original own funds of credit institutions.

(4)

It is therefore important to lay down criteria for those capital instruments to be eligible for original own funds of credit institutions and to align the provisions in Directive 2006/48/EC to that agreement. The amendments to Annex XII to Directive 2006/48/EC result directly from the establishment of those criteria. Original own funds referred to in Article 57(a) of Directive 2006/48/EC should include all instruments that are regarded under national law as equity capital, rank pari passu with ordinary shares during liquidation and fully absorb losses on a going-concern basis pari passu with ordinary shares. It should be possible for those instruments to include instruments providing preferential rights for dividend payment on a non-cumulative basis, provided that they are included in Article 22 of Council Directive 86/635/EEC of 8 December 1986 on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of banks and other financial institutions (5), rank pari passu with ordinary shares during liquidation and fully absorb losses on a going-concern basis pari passu with ordinary shares. Original own funds referred to in Article 57(a) of Directive 2006/48/EC should also include any other instrument under a credit institution’s statutory terms taking into account the specific constitution of mutuals, cooperative societies and similar institutions and which are deemed equivalent to ordinary shares in terms of their capital qualities in particular as regards loss absorption. Instruments that do not rank pari passu with ordinary shares during liquidation or which do not absorb losses on a going-concern basis pari passu with ordinary shares should be included in the category of hybrids referred to in Article 57(ca) of Directive 2006/48/EC.

(5)

In order to avoid disruption of markets and to ensure continuity in overall levels of own funds it is appropriate to provide for specific transitional arrangements for the new regime on capital instruments. Once recovery is assured, the quality of original own funds should be further enhanced. In this regard, the Commission should report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals by 31 December 2011.

(6)

For the purpose of strengthening the crisis management framework of the Community, it is essential that competent authorities coordinate their actions with other competent authorities and, where appropriate, with central banks in an efficient way, including with the aim of mitigating systemic risk. In order to strengthen the efficiency of the prudential supervision of a banking group on a consolidated basis, supervisory activities should be coordinated in a more effective manner. Colleges of Supervisors should therefore be established. The establishment of Colleges of Supervisors should not affect the rights and responsibilities of the competent authorities under Directive 2006/48/EC. Their establishment should be an instrument for stronger cooperation by means of which competent authorities reach agreement on key supervisory tasks. The Colleges of Supervisors should facilitate the handling of ongoing supervision and emergency situations. The consolidating supervisor should, in association with the other members of the college, be able to decide to organise meetings or activities that are not of general interest and should therefore be able to streamline the attendance as appropriate.

(7)

The mandates of competent authorities should take into account, in an appropriate way, the Community dimension. Competent authorities should therefore duly consider the effect of their decisions on the stability of the financial system in all other Member States concerned. Subject to national law, that principle should be understood as a broad objective for promoting financial stability across the European Union and should not legally bind competent authorities to achieve a specific result.

(8)

The competent authorities should be able to participate in colleges established for the supervision of credit institutions having their parent in a third country. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors should, where necessary, provide for guidelines and recommendations in order to enhance the convergence of supervisory practices pursuant to Directive 2006/48/EC. In order to avoid inconsistencies and regulatory arbitrage, which could result from differences in the approaches and rules applied by the various colleges and the application of discretion by Member States, guidelines on the procedures and rules governing colleges should be developed by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors.

(9)

Article 129(3) of Directive 2006/48/EC should not change the allocation of responsibilities between competent supervisory authorities on a consolidated, sub-consolidated and individual basis.

(10)

Information deficits between the home and the host competent authorities may prove detrimental to the financial stability in host Member States. The information rights of host supervisors, in particular in a crisis involving significant branches, should therefore be reinforced. For that purpose, the notion of significant branches should be defined. The competent authorities should transmit information which is essential for the pursuance of the tasks of central banks and of Ministries of Finance with respect to financial crises and systemic risk mitigation.

(11)

The current supervisory arrangements should be subject to further developments. Colleges of Supervisors are a further and important step forward in streamlining European Union’s supervisory cooperation and convergence.

(12)

Cooperation between supervisory authorities, dealing with groups and holdings and their subsidiaries and branches, by means of colleges is a phase in a development towards further regulatory convergence and supervisory integration. Trust between supervisors and respect for their respective responsibilities is essential. In the event of a conflict between members of a college linked to those different responsibilities, neutral and independent advice, mediation and conflict-resolving mechanisms at Community level are essential.

(13)

The crisis in international financial markets has demonstrated that it is appropriate to examine further the need for reform of the regulatory and supervisory model of the European Union’s financial sector.

(14)

The Commission announced in its Communication of 29 October 2008 entitled ‘From financial crisis to recovery: A European framework for action’, that it had set up a group of experts, chaired by Mr Jacques de Larosière (the de Larosière Group), to consider the organisation of European financial institutions to ensure prudential soundness, the orderly functioning of markets and stronger European cooperation on financial stability oversight, early warning mechanisms and crisis management, including the management of cross-border and cross-sectoral risks, and also to look at cooperation between the European Union and other major jurisdictions to help safeguard financial stability at the global level.

(15)

In order to achieve the necessary level of supervisory convergence and cooperation at the European Union level, and to underpin the stability of the financial system, further wide-ranging reforms of the regulatory and supervisory model of the European Union’s financial sector are highly needed and should be put forward swiftly by the Commission, with due consideration of the conclusions presented by the de Larosière Group on 25 February 2009.

(16)

By 31 December 2009, the Commission should report to the European Parliament and the Council and propose appropriate legislation needed to tackle the shortcomings identified regarding the provisions related to further supervisory integration, taking into account that a stronger role for a European Union level supervisory system should be achieved by 31 December 2011.

(17)

Excessive concentration of exposures to a single client or group of connected clients may result in an unacceptable risk of loss. Such a situation could be considered prejudicial to the solvency of a credit institution. The monitoring and control of the large exposures of a credit institution should therefore be an integral part of its supervision.

(18)

The current large exposures regime dates back to 1992. Therefore, the existing requirements on large exposures set out in Directive 2006/48/EC and in Directive 2006/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2006 on the capital adequacy of investment firms and credit institutions (6) should be reviewed.

(19)

Since credit institutions in the internal market are engaged in direct competition, the essential rules for the monitoring and control of the large exposures of credit institutions should be further harmonised. In order to reduce the administrative burden on credit institutions, the number of options for Members States as far as large exposures are concerned should be reduced.

(20)

In determining the existence of a group of connected clients and thus exposures constituting a single risk, it is also important to take into account risks arising from a common source of significant funding provided by the credit institution or investment firm itself, its financial group or its connected parties.

(21)

While it is desirable to base the calculation of the exposure value on that provided for the purposes of minimum own funds requirements, it is appropriate to adopt rules for the monitoring of large exposures without applying risk weightings or degrees of risk. Moreover, the credit risk mitigation techniques applied in the solvency regime were designed with the assumption of a well-diversified credit risk. In the case of large exposures dealing with single name concentration risk, credit risk is not well-diversified. The effects of those techniques should therefore be subject to prudential safeguards. In this context, it is necessary to provide for an effective recovery of credit protection for the purposes of large exposures.

(22)

Since a loss arising from an exposure to a credit institution or an investment firm can be as severe as a loss from any other exposure, such exposures should be treated and reported in the same manner as any other exposures. However, an alternative quantitative limit has been introduced to alleviate the disproportionate impact of such an approach on smaller institutions. In addition, very short-term exposures related to money transmission including the execution of payment services, clearing, settlement and custody services to clients are exempt to facilitate the smooth functioning of financial markets and of the related infrastructure. Those services cover, for example, the execution of cash clearing and settlement and similar activities to facilitate settlement. The related exposures include exposures which might not be foreseeable and are therefore not under the full control of a credit institution, inter alia, balances on inter-bank accounts resulting from client payments, including credited or debited fees and interest, and other payments for client services, as well as collateral given or received.

(23)

The provisions related to external credit assessment institutions (ECAIs) under Directive 2006/48/EC should be consistent with Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on credit rating agencies (7). In particular, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors should review its guidelines on the recognition of ECAIs to avoid duplication of work and reduce the burden of the recognition process where an ECAI is registered as a credit rating agency (CRA) at Community level.

(24)

It is important that the misalignment between the interest of firms that ‘re-package’ loans into tradable securities and other financial instruments (originators or sponsors) and firms that invest in these securities or instruments (investors) be removed. It is also important that the interests of the originator or sponsor and the interests of investors be aligned. To achieve this, the originator or sponsor should retain a significant interest in the underlying assets. It is therefore important for the originators or the sponsors to retain exposure to the risk of the loans in question. More generally, securitisation transactions should not be structured in such a way as to avoid the application of the retention requirement, in particular through any fee or premium structure or both. Such retention should be applicable in all situations where the economic substance of a securitisation according to the definition of Directive 2006/48/EC is applicable, whatever legal structures or instruments are used to obtain this economic substance. In particular where credit risk is transferred by securitisation, investors should make their decisions only after conducting thorough due diligence, for which they need adequate information about the securitisations.

(25)

The measures to address the potential misalignment of those structures need to be consistent and coherent in all relevant financial sector regulation. The Commission should put forward appropriate legislative proposals to ensure such consistency and coherence. There should be no multiple applications of the retention requirement. For any given securitisation it suffices that only one of the originator, the sponsor or the original lender is subject to the requirement. Similarly, where securitisation transactions contain other securitisations as an underlying, the retention requirement should be applied only to the securitisation which is subject to the investment. Purchased receivables should not be subject to the retention requirement if they arise from corporate activity where they are transferred or sold at a discount to finance such activity. Competent authorities should apply the risk weight in relation to non-compliance with due diligence and risk management obligations in relation to securitisation for non-trivial breaches of policies and procedures which are relevant to the analysis of the underlying risks.

(26)

In their Declaration on Strengthening the Financial System of 2 April 2009, the leaders of the G20 requested the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision and authorities to consider due diligence and quantitative retention requirements for securitisation by 2010. In view of those international developments, and in order best to mitigate systemic risks arising from securitisation markets, the Commission should, before the end of 2009 and after consulting the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, decide whether an increase of the retention requirement should be proposed, and whether the methods of calculating the retention requirement deliver the objective of a better alignment of the interests of the originators or sponsors and the investors.

(27)

Due diligence should be used in order properly to assess the risks arising from securitisation exposures for both the trading book and the non-trading book. In addition, due diligence obligations need to be proportionate. Due diligence procedures should contribute to building greater confidence between originators, sponsors and investors. It is therefore desirable that relevant information concerning the due diligence procedures is properly disclosed.

(28)

Member States should ensure that competent authorities have sufficient personnel and resources to comply with their supervisory obligations under Directive 2006/48/EC and that employees involved in the supervision of credit institutions in accordance with that Directive have appropriate knowledge and experience for the duties assigned.

(29)

Annex III to Directive 2006/48/EC should be adapted in order to clarify certain provisions with a view to enhancing the convergence of supervisory practices.

(30)

Recent market developments have highlighted the fact that liquidity risk management is a key determinant of the soundness of credit institutions and their branches. The criteria set out in Annex V and XI to Directive 2006/48/EC should be reinforced in order to align those provisions to the work conducted by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision.

(31)

The measures necessary for the implementation of Directive 2006/48/EC should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (8).

(32)

In particular the Commission should be empowered to amend Annex III of Directive 2006/48/EC in order to take account of developments on financial markets or in accounting standards or requirements which take account of Community legislation or with regard to convergence of supervisory practice. Since those measures are of general scope and are designed to amend non-essential elements of Directive 2006/48/EC, they must be adopted in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny provided for in Article 5a of Decision 1999/468/EC.

(33)

The financial crisis has revealed a need for a better analysis of and response to macro-prudential problems, which lie at the interface between macroeconomic policy and financial system regulation. This will include a need to examine: measures that mitigate the ups and downs of the business cycle, including the need for credit institutions to build counter-cyclical buffers in good times that can be used during a downturn, which may include the possibility of building up additional reserves, ‘dynamic provisioning’ and the possibility to reduce capital buffers during difficult times, thus ensuring adequate availability of capital over the cycle; the rationale underlying the calculation of capital requirements in Directive 2006/48/EC; supplementary measures to risk-based requirements for credit institutions to help constrain the build-up of leverage in the banking system.

(34)

By 31 December 2009, the Commission should therefore, review Directive 2006/48/EC as a whole to address those issues and present a report to the European Parliament and the Council and any appropriate proposals.

(35)

In order to ensure financial stability, the Commission should review and report on measures to enhance transparency of OTC markets, to mitigate the counterparty risks and more generally to reduce the overall risks, such as by clearing of credit default swaps through central counterparties (CCPs). The establishment and development of CCPs in the EU subject to high operational and prudential standards and effective supervision should be encouraged. The Commission should submit its report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals, taking into account parallel initiatives at the global level as appropriate.

(36)

The Commission should review and report on the application of Article 113(4) of Directive 2006/48/EC including whether exemptions should be a matter of national discretion. The Commission should submit that report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals. The exemptions and options should be abolished where there is no demonstrated need for their maintenance with a view of achieving single set of consistent rules across the Community.

(37)

The specific characteristics of microcredit should be taken into account in the risk assessment, and the development of microcredit should be promoted. Furthermore, given the low development of microcredit, the development of adequate rating systems should be promoted, including the development of standard rating systems adapted to the risks of microcredit activities. Member States should endeavour to ensure that the prudential regulation and supervision of micro-credit activities at national level are proportionate.

(38)

Since the objectives of this Directive, namely the introduction of rules concerning the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions, and their prudential supervision, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States because it requires the harmonisation of a multitude of different rules existing in the legal systems of the various Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(39)

In accordance with point 34 of the Interinstitutional agreement on better law-making (9), Member States are encouraged to draw up, for themselves and in the interest of the Community, their own tables illustrating, as far as possible, the correlation between this Directive and the transposition measures, and to make them public.

(40)

Directives 2006/48/EC, 2006/49/EC and 2007/64/EC (10) should therefore be amended accordingly,

1.

Article 3(1) is amended as follows:

2.

Article 4 is amended as follows:

3.

in Article 40, the following paragraph is added:

‘3.   The competent authorities in one Member State shall, in the exercise of their general duties, duly consider the potential impact of their decisions on the stability of the financial system in all other Member States concerned and, in particular, in emergency situations, based on the information available at the relevant time.’;

4.

the following Articles are inserted:

‘Article 42a

1.   The competent authorities of a host Member State may make a request to the consolidating supervisor where Article 129(1) applies or to the competent authorities of the home Member State, for a branch of a credit institution to be considered as significant.

That request shall provide reasons for considering the branch to be significant with particular regard to the following:

2.   The competent authorities of the home Member State shall communicate to the competent authorities of a host Member State where a significant branch is established the information referred to in Article 132(1)(c) and (d) and carry out the tasks referred to in Article 129(1)(c) in cooperation with the competent authorities of the host Member State.

If a competent authority of a home Member State becomes aware of an emergency situation within a credit institution as referred to in Article 130(1), it shall alert as soon as practicable the authorities referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 49 and in Article 50.

3.   Where Article 131a does not apply, the competent authorities supervising a credit institution with significant branches in other Member States shall establish and chair a college of supervisors to facilitate the cooperation under paragraph 2 of this Article and Article 42. The establishment and functioning of the college shall be based on written arrangements determined, after consultation with competent authorities concerned, by the competent authority of the home Member State. The competent authority of the home Member State shall decide which competent authorities participate in a meeting or in an activity of the college.

The decision of the competent authority of the home Member State shall take account of the relevance of the supervisory activity to be planned or coordinated for those authorities, in particular the potential impact on the stability of the financial system in the Member States concerned referred to in Article 40(3) and the obligations referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.

The competent authority of the home Member State shall keep all members of the college fully informed, in advance, of the organisation of such meetings, the main issues to be discussed and the activities to be considered. The competent authority of the home Member State shall also keep all the members of the college fully informed, in a timely manner, of the actions taken in those meetings or the measures carried out.

Article 42b

1.   In the exercise of their duties, the competent authorities shall take into account the convergence in respect of supervisory tools and supervisory practices in the application of the laws, regulations and administrative requirements adopted pursuant to this Directive. For that purpose, Member States shall ensure that:

2.   The Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on the progress made towards supervisory convergence every year starting from 1 January 2011.’;

5.

Article 49 is amended as follows:

6.

in Article 50, the following paragraph is added:

‘In an emergency situation as referred to in Article 130(1), Member States shall allow competent authorities to disclose information which is relevant to the departments referred to in the first paragraph of this Article in all Member States concerned.’;

7.

Article 57 is amended as follows:

8.

the first paragraph of Article 61 is replaced by the following:

‘The concept of own funds as defined in Article 57(a) to (h) embodies a maximum number of items and amounts. Member States may decide on the use of those items and on the deduction of items other than those listed in Article 57(i) to (r).’;

9.

in Article 63(2), the following subparagraph is added:

‘Instruments referred to in Article 57(ca) shall comply with the requirements set out in points (a), (c), (d) and (e) of this Article.’;

10.

the following Article is inserted:

‘Article 63a

1.   Instruments referred to in Article 57(ca) shall comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 2 to 5 of this Article.

2.   The instruments shall be undated or have an original maturity of at least 30 years. The instruments may include one or more call options at the sole discretion of the issuer, but they shall not be redeemed before five years after the date of issue. If the provisions governing undated instruments provide for a moderate incentive for the credit institution to redeem as determined by the competent authorities, such incentive shall not occur within 10 years of the date of issue. The provisions governing dated instruments shall not permit an incentive to redeem on a date other than the maturity date.

Dated and undated instruments may be called or redeemed only with the prior consent of the competent authorities. The competent authorities may grant permission provided the request is made at the initiative of the credit institution and either financial or solvency conditions of the credit institution are not unduly affected. The competent authorities may require institutions to replace the instrument by items of the same or better quality referred to in point (a) or (ca) of Article 57.

The competent authorities shall require the suspension of the redemption for dated instruments if the credit institution does not comply with the capital requirements set out in Article 75 and may require such suspension at other times based on the financial and solvency situation of credit institutions.

The competent authority may at any time grant permission for early redemption of dated or undated instruments in the event that there is a change in the applicable tax treatment or regulatory classification of such instruments which was unforeseen at the date of issue.

3.   The provisions governing the instrument shall allow the credit institution to cancel, when necessary, the payment of interest or dividends for an unlimited period of time, on a non-cumulative basis.

However, the credit institution shall cancel such payments if it does not comply with the capital requirements set out in Article 75.

The competent authorities may require the cancellation of such payments based on the financial and solvency situation of the credit institution. Any such cancellation shall not prejudice the right of the credit institution to substitute the payment of interest or dividend by a payment in the form of an instrument referred to in Article 57(a), provided that any such mechanism allows the credit institution to preserve financial resources. Such substitution may be subject to specific conditions established by the competent authorities.

4.   The provisions governing the instrument shall provide for principal, unpaid interest or dividend to be such as to absorb losses and to not hinder the recapitalisation of the credit institution through appropriate mechanisms, as elaborated by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors under paragraph 6.

5.   In the event of the bankruptcy or liquidation of the credit institution, the instruments shall rank after the items referred to in Article 63(2).

6.   The Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall elaborate guidelines for the convergence of supervisory practices with regard to the instruments referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and in Article 57(a) and shall monitor their application. By 31 December 2011, the Commission shall review the application of this Article and shall report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals to ensure the quality of own funds.’;

11.

in Article 65(1), point (a) is replaced by the following:

12.

Article 66 is amended as follows:

13.

the subtitle of Title V, Chapter 2, Section 2, Subsection 2 ‘Calculation of requirements’ is replaced by ‘Calculation and reporting requirements’;

14.

in Article 74(2) the following subparagraph is inserted after the first subparagraph:

‘For the communication of those calculations by credit institutions, competent authorities shall apply, from 31 December 2012, uniform formats, frequencies and dates of reporting. To facilitate this, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall elaborate guidelines to introduce, within the Community, a uniform reporting format before 1 January 2012. The reporting formats shall be proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of the credit institutions' activities.’;

15.

Article 81(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2.   The competent authorities shall recognise an ECAI as eligible for the purpose of Article 80 only if they are satisfied that its assessment methodology complies with the requirements of objectivity, independence, ongoing review and transparency, and that the resulting credit assessments meet the requirements of credibility and transparency. For those purposes, the competent authorities shall take into account the technical criteria set out in Annex VI, Part 2. Where an ECAI is registered as a credit rating agency in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 of 16 September 2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on credit rating agencies (11), the competent authorities shall consider the requirements of objectivity, independence, ongoing review and transparency with respect to its assessment methodology to be satisfied.

16.

Article 87 is amended as follows:

17.

in Article 89(1)(d), the introductory part is replaced by the following:

18.

Article 97(2) is replaced by the following:

‘2.   The competent authorities shall recognise an ECAI as eligible for the purpose of paragraph 1 of this Article only if they are satisfied as to its compliance with the requirements laid down in Article 81, taking into account the technical criteria set out in Annex VI, Part 2, and that it has a demonstrated ability in the area of securitisation, which may be evidenced by a strong market acceptance. Where an ECAI is registered as a credit rating agency in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009, the competent authorities shall consider the requirements of objectivity, independence, ongoing review and transparency with respect to its assessment methodology to be satisfied.’;

19.

Article 106 is amended as follows:

20.

Article 107 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 107

For the purposes of calculating the value of exposures in accordance with this Section, the term “credit institution” also means any private or public undertaking, including its branches, which meets the definition of “credit institution” and has been authorised in a third country.’;

21.

Article 110 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 110

1.   A credit institution shall report the following information about every large exposure to the competent authorities, including large exposures exempted from the application of Article 111(1):

If a credit institution is subject to Articles 84 to 89, its 20 largest exposures on a consolidated basis, excluding those exempted from the application of Article 111(1), shall be made available to the competent authorities.

2.   Member States shall provide that reporting is to be carried out at least twice a year. The competent authorities shall apply, from 31 December 2012, uniform formats, frequencies and dates of reporting. To facilitate this, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall elaborate guidelines to introduce, within the Community, a uniform reporting format before 1 January 2012. The reporting formats shall be proportionate to the nature, scale and complexity of the credit institutions' activities.

3.   Member States shall require credit institutions to analyse, to the extent possible, their exposures to collateral issuers, providers of unfunded credit protection and underlying assets pursuant to Article 106(3) for possible concentrations and where appropriate take action and report any significant findings to their competent authority.’;

22.

Article 111 is amended as follows:

23.

Article 112 is amended as follows:

24.

Article 113 is amended as follows:

25.

Article 114 is amended as follows:

26.

Article 115 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 115

1.   For the purpose of this Section, a credit institution may reduce the exposure value by up to 50 % of the value of the residential property concerned, if either of the following conditions is met:

The value of the property shall be calculated, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, on the basis of prudent valuation standards laid down by law, regulation or administrative provisions. Valuation shall be carried out at least once every three years for residential property.

The requirements in Annex VIII, Part 2, point 8, and in Annex VIII Part 3, points 62 to 65 shall apply for the purpose of this paragraph.

“Residential property” shall mean a residence to be occupied or let by the owner.

2.   For the purpose of this Section, a credit institution may reduce the exposure value by up to 50 % of the value of the commercial property concerned only if the competent authorities concerned in the Member State where the commercial property is situated allow the following exposures to receive a 50 % risk weight in accordance with Articles 78 to 83:

The value of the property shall be calculated, to the satisfaction of the competent authorities, on the basis of prudent valuation standards laid down by law, regulation or administrative provisions.

Commercial property shall be fully constructed, leased and produce appropriate rental income.’;

27.

Article 116 is deleted;

28.

Article 117 is amended as follows:

29.

Article 119 is deleted;

30.

the following Section is added in Chapter 2:

‘Section 7

Exposures to transferred credit risk

Article 122a

1.   A credit institution, other than when acting as an originator, a sponsor or original lender, shall be exposed to the credit risk of a securitisation position in its trading book or non-trading book only if the originator, sponsor or original lender has explicitly disclosed to the credit institution that it will retain, on an ongoing basis, a material net economic interest which, in any event, shall not be less than 5 %.

For the purpose of this Article, “retention of net economic interest” means:

Net economic interest is measured at the origination and shall be maintained on an ongoing basis. It shall not be subject to any credit risk mitigation or any short positions or any other hedge. The net economic interest shall be determined by the notional value for off-balance sheet items.

For the purpose of this Article, “ongoing basis” means that retained positions, interest or exposures are not hedged or sold.

There shall be no multiple applications of the retention requirements for any given securitisation.

2.   Where an EU parent credit institution or an EU financial holding company, or one of its subsidiaries, as an originator or a sponsor, securitises exposures from several credit institutions, investment firms or other financial institutions which are included in the scope of supervision on a consolidated basis, the requirement referred to in paragraph 1 may be satisfied on the basis of the consolidated situation of the related EU parent credit institution or EU financial holding company. This paragraph shall apply only where credit institutions, investment firms or financial institutions which created the securitised exposures have committed themselves to adhere to the requirements set out in paragraph 6 and deliver, in a timely manner, to the originator or sponsor and to the EU parent credit institution or an EU financial holding company the information needed to satisfy the requirements referred to in paragraph 7.

3.   Paragraph 1 shall not apply where the securitised exposures are claims or contingent claims on or fully, unconditionally and irrevocably guaranteed by:

Paragraph 1 shall not apply to:

4.   Before investing, and as appropriate thereafter, credit institutions, shall be able to demonstrate to the competent authorities for each of their individual securitisation positions, that they have a comprehensive and thorough understanding of and have implemented formal policies and procedures appropriate to their trading book and non-trading book and commensurate with the risk profile of their investments in securitised positions for analysing and recording:

Credit institutions shall regularly perform their own stress tests appropriate to their securitisation positions. To this end, credit institutions may rely on financial models developed by an ECAI provided that credit institutions can demonstrate, when requested, that they took due care prior to investing to validate the relevant assumptions in and structuring of the models and to understand methodology, assumptions and results.

5.   Credit institutions, other than when acting as originators or sponsors or original lenders, shall establish formal procedures appropriate to their trading book and non-trading book and commensurate with the risk profile of their investments in securitised positions to monitor on an ongoing basis and in a timely manner performance information on the exposures underlying their securitisation positions. Where relevant, this shall include the exposure type, the percentage of loans more than 30, 60 and 90 days past due, default rates, prepayment rates, loans in foreclosure, collateral type and occupancy, and frequency distribution of credit scores or other measures of credit worthiness across underlying exposures, industry and geographical diversification, frequency distribution of loan to value ratios with band widths that facilitate adequate sensitivity analysis. Where the underlying exposures are themselves securitisation positions, credit institutions shall have the information set out in this subparagraph not only on the underlying securitisation tranches, such as the issuer name and credit quality, but also on the characteristics and performance of the pools underlying those securitisation tranches.

Credit institutions shall have a thorough understanding of all structural features of a securitisation transaction that would materially impact the performance of their exposures to the transaction such as the contractual waterfall and waterfall related triggers, credit enhancements, liquidity enhancements, market value triggers, and deal-specific definition of default.

Where the requirements in paragraphs 4, 7 and in this paragraph are not met in any material respect by reason of the negligence or omission of the credit institution, Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities impose a proportionate additional risk weight of no less than 250 % of the risk weight (capped at 1 250 %) which would, but for this paragraph, apply to the relevant securitisation positions under Annex IX, Part 4, and shall progressively increase the risk weight with each subsequent infringement of the due diligence provisions. The competent authorities shall take into account the exemptions for certain securitisations provided in paragraph 3 by reducing the risk weight it would otherwise impose under this Article in respect of a securitisation to which paragraph 3 applies.

6.   Sponsor and originator credit institutions shall apply the same sound and well-defined criteria for credit-granting in accordance with the requirements of Annex V, point 3 to exposures to be securitised as they apply to exposures to be held on their book. To this end the same processes for approving and, where relevant, amending, renewing and re-financing credits shall be applied by the originator and sponsor credit institutions. Credit institutions shall also apply the same standards of analysis to participations or underwritings in securitisation issues purchased from third parties whether such participations or underwritings are to be held on their trading or non-trading book.

Where the requirements referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph are not met, Article 95(1) shall not be applied by an originator credit institution and that originator credit institution shall not be allowed to exclude the securitised exposures from the calculation of its capital requirements under this Directive.

7.   Sponsor and originator credit institutions shall disclose to investors the level of their commitment under paragraph 1 to maintain a net economic interest in the securitisation. Sponsor and originator credit institutions shall ensure that prospective investors have readily available access to all materially relevant data on the credit quality and performance of the individual underlying exposures, cash flows and collateral supporting a securitisation exposure as well as such information that is necessary to conduct comprehensive and well informed stress tests on the cash flows and collateral values supporting the underlying exposures. For that purpose, materially relevant data shall be determined as at the date of the securitisation and where appropriate due to the nature of the securitisation thereafter.

8.   Paragraphs 1 to 7 shall apply to new securitisations issued on or after 1 January 2011. Paragraphs 1 to 7 shall, after 31 December 2014, apply to existing securitisations where new underlying exposures are added or substituted after that date. Competent authorities may decide to suspend temporarily the requirements referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 during periods of general market liquidity stress.

9.   Competent authorities shall disclose the following information:

10.   The Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall report annually to the Commission about the compliance by competent authorities with this Article. The Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall elaborate guidelines for the convergence of supervisory practices with regard to this Article, including the measures taken in case of breach of the due diligence and risk management obligations.’;

31.

Article 129 is amended as follows:

32.

in Article 130, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1.   Where an emergency situation, including adverse developments in financial markets, arises, which potentially jeopardises the market liquidity and the stability of the financial system in any of the Member States where entities of a group have been authorised or where significant branches as referred to in Article 42a are established, the consolidating supervisor shall, subject to Chapter 1, Section 2, alert as soon as is practicable, the authorities referred to in the fourth subparagraph of Article 49 and in Article 50, and shall communicate all information that is essential for the pursuance of their tasks. Those obligations shall apply to all competent authorities under Articles 125 and 126 and to the competent authority identified under Article 129(1).

If the authority referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 49 becomes aware of a situation described in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, it shall alert as soon as is practicable the competent authorities referred to in Articles 125 and 126.

Where possible, the competent authority and the authority referred to in the fourth paragraph of Article 49 shall use existing defined channels of communication.’;

33.

the following Article is inserted:

‘Article 131a

1.   The consolidating supervisor shall establish colleges of supervisors to facilitate the exercise of the tasks referred to in Article 129 and Article 130(1) and subject to the confidentiality requirements of paragraph 2 of this Article and compatibility with Community law, ensure appropriate coordination and cooperation with relevant third-country competent authorities where appropriate.

Colleges of supervisors shall provide a framework for the consolidating supervisor and the other competent authorities concerned to carry out the following tasks:

The competent authorities participating in the colleges of supervisors shall cooperate closely. The confidentiality requirements under Chapter 1, Section 2 shall not prevent competent authorities from exchanging confidential information within colleges of supervisors. The establishment and functioning of colleges of supervisors shall not affect the rights and responsibilities of the competent authorities under this Directive.

2.   The establishment and functioning of the colleges shall be based on written arrangements referred to in Article 131, determined after consultation with competent authorities concerned by the consolidating supervisor.

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall elaborate guidelines for the operational functioning of colleges, including in relation to Article 42a(3).

The competent authorities responsible for the supervision of subsidiaries of an EU parent credit institution or an EU parent financial holding company and the competent authorities of a host country where significant branches as referred to in Article 42a are established, central banks as appropriate, and third countries' competent authorities where appropriate and subject to confidentiality requirements that are equivalent, in the opinion of all competent authorities, to the requirements under Chapter 1 Section 2, may participate in colleges of supervisors.

The consolidating supervisor shall chair the meetings of the college and shall decide which competent authorities participate in a meeting or in an activity of the college. The consolidating supervisor shall keep all members of the college fully informed, in advance, of the organisation of such meetings, the main issues to be discussed and the activities to be considered. The consolidating supervisor shall also keep all the members of the college fully informed, in a timely manner, of the actions taken in those meetings or the measures carried out.

The decision of the consolidating supervisor shall take account of the relevance of the supervisory activity to be planned or coordinated for those authorities, in particular the potential impact on the stability of the financial system in the Member States concerned referred to in Article 40(3) and the obligations referred to in Article 42a(2).

The consolidating supervisor, subject to the confidentiality requirements under Chapter 1, Section 2, shall inform the Committee of European Banking Supervisors of the activities of the college of supervisors, including in emergency situations, and communicate to that Committee all information that is of particular relevance for the purposes of supervisory convergence.’;

34.

Article 132 is amended as follows:

35.

Article 150 is amended as follows:

36.

in Article 153, the third paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘In the calculation of risk weighted exposure amounts for the purposes of Annex VI, Part 1, point 4, until 31 December 2015 the same risk weight shall be assigned in relation to exposures to Member States' central governments or central banks denominated and funded in the domestic currency of any Member State as would be applied to such exposures denominated and funded in their domestic currency.’;

37.

in Article 154, the following paragraphs are added:

‘8.   Credit institutions which do not comply by 31 December 2010 with the limits set out in Article 66(1a) shall develop strategies and processes on the necessary measures to resolve this situation before the dates set out in paragraph 9 of this Article.

Those measures shall be reviewed under Article 124.

9.   Instruments that by 31 December 2010, according to national law were deemed equivalent to the items referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 57 but do not fall within Article 57(a) or do not comply with the criteria set out in Article 63a, shall be deemed to fall within Article 57(ca) until 31 December 2040, subject to the following limitations:

The Committee of European Banking Supervisors shall monitor, until 31 December 2010, the issuance of those instruments.

10.   For the purpose of Section 5, assets items constituting claims on and other exposures to institutions incurred prior to 31 December 2009 shall continue to be subject to the same treatment as applied in accordance with Article 115(2) and Article 116 as they stood prior to 7 December 2009, however not longer than until 31 December 2012.

11.   Until 31 December 2012, the time period referred to in Article 129(3) shall be six months.’;

38.

Article 156 is replaced by the following:

‘Article 156

The Commission, in cooperation with Member States, and taking into account the contribution of the European Central Bank, shall periodically monitor whether this Directive taken as a whole, together with Directive 2006/49/EC, has significant effects on the economic cycle and, in the light of that examination, shall consider whether any remedial measures are justified.

Based on that analysis and taking into account the contribution of the European Central Bank, the Commission shall draw up a biennial report and submit it to the European Parliament and to the Council, together with any appropriate proposals. Contributions from credit taking and credit lending parties shall be adequately acknowledged when the report is drawn up.

By 31 December 2009, the Commission shall review this Directive as a whole to address the need for better analysis of and response to macro-prudential problems, including the examination of:

The Commission shall submit a report on the above issues to the European Parliament and to the Council with any appropriate proposals.

The Commission shall, as soon as possible and in any event by 31 December 2009 present to the European Parliament and the Council a report on the need for further reform of the supervisory system, including relevant Articles of this Directive, and, in accordance with the applicable procedure under the Treaty, any appropriate legislative proposal.

By 1 January 2011, the Commission shall review the progress made by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors towards uniform formats, frequencies and dates of reporting referred to in Article 74(2). In light of that review, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council.

By 31 December 2011, the Commission shall review and report on the application of this Directive with particular attention to all aspects of Articles 68 to 73, 80(7), 80(8) and its application to microcredit finance and shall submit this report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals.

By 31 December 2011 the Commission shall review and report on the application of Article 113(4) including whether exemptions should be a matter of national discretion and shall submit this report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals. With respect to the potential elimination of the national discretion under Article 113(4)(c) and its potential application at the EU level, the review shall in particular take into account the efficiency of group's risk management while ensuring that sufficient safeguards are in place to ensure financial stability in all Member States in which an entity of a group is incorporated.

By 31 December 2009 the Commission shall review and report on measures to enhance transparency of OTC markets, including the credit default swap markets, such as by clearing through central counterparties, and shall submit this report to the European Parliament and the Council together with any appropriate proposals.

By 31 December 2009 the Commission shall report on the expected impact of Article 122a, and shall submit that report to the European Parliament and the Council, together with any appropriate proposal. The Commission shall draw up its report after consulting the Committee of European Banking Supervisors. The report shall consider, in particular, whether the minimum retention requirement under Article 122a(1) delivers the objective of better alignment between the interests of originators or sponsors and investors and strengthens financial stability, and whether an increase of the minimum level of retention would be appropriate taking into account international developments.

By 1 January 2012, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and the Council on the application and effectiveness of Article 122a in the light of international market developments.’;

39.

Annex III is amended as follows:

40.

Annex V is amended as follows:

41.

in Annex IX, Part 3, Section 2, the following point is added:

42.

Annex XI is amended as follows:

43.

in point 3 of Part 2 of Annex XII, points (a) and (b) are replaced by the following:

1.

in Article 12, the first paragraph is replaced by the following:

‘“Original own funds” means the sum of points (a) to (ca), less the sum of points (i), (j) and (k) of Article 57 of Directive 2006/48/EC.’;

2.

Article 28 is amended as follows:

3.

in Article 30, paragraph 4 is replaced by the following:

‘4.   By derogation from paragraph 3 competent authorities may allow assets constituting claims and other exposures on recognised third country investment firms and recognised clearing houses and exchanges to be subject to the same treatment as laid down in Article 111(1) of Directive 2006/48/EC and in Article 106(2)(c) of that Directive respectively.’;

4.

Article 31 is amended as follows:

5.

in Article 32(1), the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

‘1.   The competent authorities shall establish procedures to prevent institutions from deliberately avoiding the additional capital requirements that they would otherwise incur, on exposures exceeding the limit laid down in Article 111(1) of Directive 2006/48/EC once those exposures have been maintained for more than 10 days, by means of temporarily transferring the exposures in question to another company, whether within the same group or not, and/or by undertaking artificial transactions to close out the exposure during the 10-day period and create a new exposure.’;

6.

in Article 35, the following paragraph is added:

‘6.   Investment firms shall be covered by the uniform formats, frequencies and dates of reporting referred to in Article 74(2) of Directive 2006/48/EC.’;

7.

in Article 38, the following paragraph is added:

‘3.   Article 42a of Directive 2006/48/EC, with the exception of point (a) of its paragraph 1, shall apply mutatis mutandis to the supervision of investment firms unless the investment firms fulfil the criteria set out in Article 20(2), 20(3) or 46(1) of this Directive.’;

8.

in Article 45(1), the date ‘31 December 2010’ is replaced by ‘31 December 2014’;

9.

in Article 47, the date ‘31 December 2009’ is replaced by ‘31 December 2010’ and the reference to points 4 and 8 of Annex V of the Directive 93/6/EEC is replaced by reference to points 4 and 8 of Annex VIII;

10.

in Article 48(1), the date ‘31 December 2010’ is replaced by ‘31 December 2014’.

‘(a)

credit institutions within the meaning of Article 4(1)(a) of Directive 2006/48/EC, including branches within the meaning of Article 4(3) of that Directive located in the Community of credit institutions having their head offices inside or, in accordance with Article 38 of that Directive, outside the Community;’.