Directive 2006/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

Article 18

1. Institutions shall have own funds which are always more than or equal to the sum of the following:

(a) the capital requirements, calculated in accordance with the methods and options laid down in Articles 28 to 32 and Annexes I, II and VI and, as appropriate, Annex V, for their trading-book business; and

(b) the capital requirements, calculated in accordance with the methods and options laid down in Annexes III and IV and, as appropriate, Annex V, for all of their business activities.

2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the competent authorities may allow institutions to calculate the capital requirements for their trading book business in accordance with Article 75(a) of Directive 2006/48/EC and points 6, 7, and 9 of Annex II to this Directive, where the size of the trading book business meets the following requirements:

(a) the trading-book business of such institutions does not normally exceed 5 % of their total business;

(b) their total trading-book positions do not normally exceed EUR 15 million; and

(c) the trading-book business of such institutions never exceeds 6 % of their total business and their total trading-book positions never exceed EUR 20 million.

3. In order to calculate the proportion that trading-book business bears to total business for the purposes of points (a) and (c) of paragraph 2, the competent authorities may refer either to the size of the combined on- and off-balance-sheet business, to the profit and loss account or to the own funds of the institutions in question, or to a combination of those measures. When the size of on- and off-balance-sheet business is assessed, debt instruments shall be valued at their market prices or their principal values, equities at their market prices and derivatives according to the nominal or market values of the instruments underlying them. Long positions and short positions shall be summed regardless of their signs.

4. If an institution should happen for more than a short period to exceed either or both of the limits imposed in paragraph 2(a) and (b) or either or both of the limits imposed in paragraph 2(c), it shall be required to meet the requirements imposed in paragraph 1(a) in respect of its trading-book business and to notify the competent authority thereof.