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Summaries of EU Legislation

Banks – prudential supervision

Date of last review:
30/01/2025
Responsible entity(ies):
Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union
Summarised document(s):

Banks – prudential supervision

SUMMARY OF:

Directive 2013/36/EU on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms (capital requirements directive – CRD IV)

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DIRECTIVE?

  • Directive 2013/36/EU, the capital requirements directive (CRD) governs access to the activity of credit institutions in the European Union (EU).
  • It also lays down rules on:
    • the general requirements for access to the activity of credit institutions;
    • the freedom of establishment and to provide services;
    • the regime applicable to non-EU-country-banks’ branches;
    • the prudential supervision of credit institutions by the relevant authorities;
    • the requirements for credit institutions’ managers to comply with high professional and integrity standards (fit-and-proper rules);
    • the supervisory powers and tools of those authorities for the prudential supervision of credit institutions; and
    • the publication requirements that those authorities must comply with related to the prudential regulation and supervision of credit institutions.
  • It replaces the former capital requirements directives (2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC) and covers aspects previously included in those directives.
  • Directive 2013/36/EU is part of a package of legislation that seeks to strengthen the resilience of the EU banking sector following the financial crisis in 2008. The package also includes Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the capital requirements regulation (CRR) (see summary), which sets outs the supervisory requirements that banks need to comply with.

KEY POINTS

The directive covers a number of important areas, including the following.

  • Authorisation of credit institutions. This set of rules requires firms willing to undertake the business of collecting deposits and other repayable funds from the public to obtain an authorisation from the bank supervisor (competent authority under the directive’s terminology).
  • Better governance and more transparency. The directive introduces rules to ensure that the risks stemming from credit institutions’ activities are subject to effective management and oversight by their management bodies. From January 2015, credit institutions have to disclose certain information on a country-by-country basis, including their profits, taxes and public subsidies received. From July 2024, amending Directive (EU) 2024/1619 introduced stricter governance standards and a requirement to put in place a policy to promote diversity in terms of gender, age and background in management bodies.
  • Staff bonuses. To prevent credit institutions from giving their staff bonuses, which encourage them to take excessive risks, the directive provides for a maximum ratio between fixed pay and bonuses for all relevant staff. The bonus cannot exceed the identified staff member’s annual fixed pay, although, under certain conditions, shareholders may allow the granting of bonuses of up to twice the fixed pay. The rules also include other requirements on bonuses that promote a long-term approach to risk-taking. Amending Directive (EU) 2024/1619 introduced new rules on bonuses, linking them with risk management to encourage a risk-aware culture in institutions and the pursuit of sustainability goals.
  • Supervisory framework. Competent authorities have significant powers to monitor and enforce compliance with the directive, including stricter controls over bank governance, risk management and remuneration policies.
  • Additional capital to be held by credit institutions (Pillar 2 and capital buffers).
    • The directive provides for more detailed requirements on the Pillar 2 framework, where relevant national authorities may require credit institutions to hold capital in addition to the minimum requirements laid down in the CRR.
    • It lays down a framework on capital buffers, which aim to protect a credit institution’s solvency by setting safeguards and limits on the amount of dividend and bonus payments a credit institution can make. Depending on the extent to which a credit institution uses up its buffer, the limits become stricter, thus preventing the loss of its capital.
    • It requires credit institution to consider how environment, social and governance (ESG) risks could impact their financial stability and capital adequacy, potentially affecting their Pillar 2 capital assessments.
  • ESG risks. The directive requires institutions to integrate ESG risks into their risk management frameworks and to disclose how ESG risks are incorporated into their strategies and risk management practices.
  • Non-EU-country-branches. The directive clarifies the rules on the cross-border provision of banking services from outside the EU and introduces minimum requirements on the regulation and supervision of non-EU-country-bank branches.
  • Supervisory independence. The directive includes provisions related to supervisory independence and corporate governance (e.g. cooling -off periods for supervisory staff before they can start to work for banks; introducing harmonised “fit-and-proper” assessment rules for bank managers).
  • Ability to withstand shocks. The directive contains rules regarding exempted entities, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, remuneration, supervisory measures and powers, and capital conservation measures to enhance the financial sector’s ability to withstand potential shocks.
  • Digital operational resilience. The directive has been aligned with the requirements on ICT risk for financial entities set out in the digital operational resilience of the financial sector (DORA) regulation (Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, see summary).

Treatment of investment firms under the capital requirements directive

New regulatory framework for investment firms. On , a dedicated prudential framework entered into force for investment firms: Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 (see summary) and Directive (EU) 2019/2034 (see summary). Before that, investment firms were subject to the same prudential rules as banks. According to some proportionality criteria, certain investment firms – considered as systemic and interconnected – remain subject to some provisions of Directive 2013/36/EU.

Implementing and delegated acts

The CRD/CRR package requires the adoption of delegated and implementing acts. These offer guidance on compliance with the package to the relevant national authorities, banks and investment firms. The following delegated regulations supplement Directive 2013/36/EU regarding regulatory technical standards:

  • Delegated Regulation (EU) No 524/2014 on the information that competent authorities of home and host Member States supply to one another;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) No 527/2014 on the classes of instruments that adequately reflect the credit quality of an institution as a going concern and are appropriate to be used for the purposes of variable remuneration;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) No 530/2014 on further defining material exposures and thresholds for internal approaches to specific risk in the trading book;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1151/2014 on the information to be notified when exercising the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services, subsequently amended by Regulations (EU) 2022/192 and 2022/2403;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1152/2014 on the identification of the geographical location of the relevant credit exposures for calculating institution-specific countercyclical capital buffer rates;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1222/2014 on the methodology for the identification of global systemically important institutions and for the definition of subcategories of global systemically important institutions, subsequently amended by Regulations (EU) 2016/1608 and 2021/539;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/98 on regulatory technical standards for specifying the general conditions for the functioning of colleges of supervisors;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/861 on qualitative and appropriate quantitative criteria to identify categories of staff whose professional activities have a material impact on an institution’s risk profile;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/180 on benchmarking portfolio assessment standards and assessment-sharing procedures;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/923 on criteria to define managerial responsibility, control functions, material business units and a significant impact on a material business unit’s risk profile, and on criteria for identifying staff members or categories of staff whose professional activities have an impact on the institution’s risk profile that is comparably as material as that of staff members or categories of staff;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2579 on regulatory technical standards specifying the information to be provided by an undertaking in the application for authorisation in accordance with Article 8(a) of Directive 2013/36/EU;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2580 on regulatory technical standards specifying the information to be provided in the application for the authorisation as a credit institution, and specifying the obstacles which may prevent the effective exercise of supervisory functions of competent authorities;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/856 on regulatory technical standards specifying the supervisory shock scenarios, the common modelling and parametric assumptions and what constitutes a large decline;
  • Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/857 on a standardised methodology and a simplified standardised methodology to evaluate the risks arising from potential changes in interest rates that affect both the economic value of equity and the net interest income of an institution’s non-trading book activities.

The following implementing acts have been adopted:

  • Implementing Regulation (EU) No 620/2014 on standards with regard to information exchange between competent authorities of home and host Member States;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) No 650/2014, subsequently amended by Regulation (EU) 2019/912, on standards with regard to the format, structure, contents list and annual publication date of the information to be disclosed by competent authorities;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) No 710/2014 on standards with regard to the conditions of application of the joint decision process for institution-specific prudential requirements;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) No 926/2014, subsequently amended by Regulations (EU) 2022/193 and 2024/796, on standard forms, templates and procedures for notifications relating to the exercise of the right of establishment and the freedom to provide services;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/99 on determining the operational functioning of the colleges of supervisors;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/2070, most recently amended by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/379on templates, definitions and IT solutions to be used by institutions when reporting to the European Banking Authority and to competent authorities;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/461 on common procedures, forms and templates for the consultation process between the relevant competent authorities for proposed acquisitions of qualifying holdings in credit institutions;
  • Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2581 on implementing technical standards for the application of Directive 2013/36/EU with regard to the provision of information in applications for authorisation of a credit institution.

FROM WHEN DO THE RULES APPLY?

  • Directive 2013/36/EU had to be transposed into national law by . The rules contained in the directive should apply from .
  • Amending Directive (EU) 2019/878 had to be transposed by . The rules contained in the directive should apply from the same date.
  • Amending Directive (EU) 2019/2034 had to be transposed by . The rules contained in the directive should apply from the same date, except for those regarding providing services on the client’s initiative, which should apply from .
  • Amending Directive (EU) 2022/2556 had to be transposed by . The rules contained in the directive should apply from the same date.
  • Amending Directive (EU) 2024/1619 has to be transposed by . Most of the new rules contained in the directive should apply from the same date.

BACKGROUND

For further information, see:

MAIN DOCUMENT

Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions, amending Directive 2002/87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC (OJ L 176, , pp. 338–436).

Successive amendments and corrections to Directive 2013/36/EU have been incorporated into the basic text. This consolidated version is for reference only.

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