EBA publishes key information on the systemic importance of the 37 largest banks in the EU

EBA publishes key information on the systemic importance of the 37 largest banks in the EU (press release):

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today the key metrics used to identify global systemically important institutions (G-SIIs) in the EU, with information on size, interconnectedness, substitutability, complexity and cross-jurisdictional activity.

The EBA’s regulatory package on G-SIIs identification and data disclosure are in line with the internationally agreed framework developed by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS).

To promote a level playing field in the EU regarding the disclosure requirements and to increase transparency, the EBA goes beyond the minimum standards required by the BCBS, both in terms of granularity of the disclosed information and applicable scope of institutions. Therefore, some of the group-specific values published today include institutions that did not contribute directly to the BCBS’s G-SIB exercise. This year’s disclosure exercise covers 37 EU institutions whose leverage ratio exposure measure exceeded 200 billion Euro in 2014.

While each participating institution discloses this information individually, the EBA acts as a central data hub in the disclosure process, providing a platform to aggregate data across the EU with an user-friendly excel tool. The EBA will continue to disclose this data on an annual basis.

Legal basis and next steps

The EBA’s Standards and Guidelines on G-SIIs identification and data disclosure requirements have been developed in accordance with Directive 2013/36/EU (Capital Requirements Directive or CRD IV), and on the basis of internationally agreed standards, including the framework established by the FSB and standards developed by the BCBS.

The identification as G-SII, which leads to a higher capital requirement, falls under the responsibility of national competent authorities and took place in January 2015 for the first time. The identification process will take place annually following the global denominators disclosure and G-SIB exercise results, expected to be published by the BCBS and the FSB, by November each year. The higher capital requirement will then apply about one year after the publication by competent authorities in each Member State of banks’ scoring results so as to allow institutions enough time to adjust to the new buffer requirement.