Decision (EU) 2019/322 of the European Central BankShow full title

Article 8 U.K. Criteria for the adoption of delegated decisions on mergers

1. Decisions on the approval of mergers involving at least one significant supervised entity shall be taken by means of a delegated decision if all of the following criteria are met:

(a) the impact on the own funds of the significant supervised entity resulting from the merger is limited, which means that:

(i)

following the merger, the own funds exceed and are estimated to continue exceeding the sum of the requirements laid down in Article 92(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the own funds required to be held in accordance with Article 16(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013, the combined buffer requirement as defined in point (6) of Article 128 of Directive 2013/36/EU and, where applicable, the Pillar 2 capital guidance as set out in the last available SREP decision; and

(ii)

the impact of the reduction on the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio, the Tier 1 capital ratio and the total capital ratio is below 100 basis points;

(b) the impact on the liquidity situation of the significant supervised entity resulting from the merger is limited, which means that:

(i)

the LCR remains above 110 % and is above the liquidity requirements set out in the last available SREP decision, if these are higher than the required minimum LCR; and

(ii)

at consolidated level, the LCR is not reduced by more than 50 %;

(c) the governance structure of the significant supervised entity resulting from the merger does not raise supervisory concerns.

2. Decision-making powers shall in no circumstances be delegated to the heads of the work units in respect of the following:

(a) mergers between one significant supervised entity and another entity that does not belong to the same group of the significant supervised entity; or

(b) cross-border mergers between significant supervised entities that belong to the same group.

3. The assessment of mergers shall be carried out in accordance with the relevant provisions of national law, also taking into consideration any applicable ECB guides and/or national competent authorities' policy stances, guidance or similar acts.