TITLE VII

PRUDENTIAL SUPERVISION
CHAPTER 4

Capital Buffers
Section I

Buffers

Global and other systemically important institutions
Article 131
1
Member States shall designate an authority to be responsible for identifying, on a consolidated basis, G-SIIs, and, on an individual, sub-consolidated or consolidated basis, as applicable, other systemically important institutions (O-SIIs), which have been authorised within their jurisdiction. That authority shall be the competent authority or the designated authority. Member States may designate more than one authority.
G-SIIs shall be any of the following:
a
a group headed by an EU parent institution, an EU parent financial holding company, or an EU parent mixed financial holding company; or
b
an institution that is not a subsidiary of an EU parent institution, of an EU parent financial holding company or of an EU parent mixed financial holding company.
O-SIIs may either be an institution or a group headed by an EU parent institution, an EU parent financial holding company, an EU parent mixed financial holding company, a parent institution in a Member State, a parent financial holding company in a Member State or a parent mixed financial holding company in a Member State.
2
The identification methodology for G-SIIs shall be based on the following categories:
a
size of the group;
b
interconnectedness of the group with the financial system;
c
substitutability of the services or of the financial infrastructure provided by the group;
d
complexity of the group;
e
cross-border activity of the group, including cross border activity between Member States and between a Member State and a third country.
Each category shall receive an equal weighting and shall consist of quantifiable indicators.
The methodology shall produce an overall score for each entity as referred to in paragraph 1 assessed, which allows G-SIIs to be identified and allocated into a sub-category as described in paragraph 9.
2a
An additional identification methodology for G-SIIs shall be based on the following categories:
a
the categories referred to in points (a) to (d) of paragraph 2 of this Article;
b
cross-border activity of the group, excluding the group's activities across participating Member States as referred to in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council .
Each category shall receive an equal weighting and shall consist of quantifiable indicators. For the categories referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the indicators shall be the same as the corresponding indicators determined pursuant to paragraph 2.
The additional identification methodology shall produce an additional overall score for each entity as referred to in paragraph 1 assessed, on the basis of which competent or designated authorities may take one of the measures referred to in point (c) of paragraph 10.
3
O-SIIs shall be identified in accordance with paragraph 1. Systemic importance shall be assessed on the basis of at least any of the following criteria:
a
size;
b
importance for the economy of the Union or of the relevant Member State;
c
significance of cross-border activities;
d
interconnectedness of the institution or group with the financial system.
EBA, after consulting the ESRB, shall issue guidelines, in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, by
1 January 2015
on the criteria to determine the conditions of application of this paragraph in relation to the assessment of O-SIIs. Those guidelines shall take into account international frameworks for domestic systemically important institutions and Union and national specificities.
After having consulted the ESRB, EBA shall report to the Commission by
31 December 2020
on the appropriate methodology for the design and calibration of O-SII buffer rates.
4
Each G-SII shall, on a consolidated basis, maintain a G-SII buffer which shall correspond to the sub-category to which the G-SII is allocated. That buffer shall consist of and shall be supplementary to Common Equity Tier 1 capital.
5
The competent authority or the designated authority may require each O-SII, on a consolidated, sub-consolidated or individual basis, as applicable, to maintain an O-SII buffer of up to 3 % of the total risk exposure amount calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, taking into account the criteria for the identification of the O-SII. That buffer shall consist of Common Equity Tier 1 capital.
5a
Subject to the Commission authorisation referred to in the third subparagraph of this paragraph, the competent authority or the designated authority may require each O-SII, on a consolidated, sub-consolidated or individual basis, as applicable, to maintain an O-SII buffer higher than 3 % of the total risk exposure amount calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013. That buffer shall consist of Common Equity Tier 1 capital.
Within six weeks of receipt of the notification referred to in paragraph 7 of this Article, the ESRB shall provide the Commission with an opinion as to whether the O-SII buffer is deemed appropriate. EBA may also provide the Commission with its opinion on the buffer in accordance with Article 34(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.
Within three months of the ESRB forwarding the notification referred to in paragraph 7 to the Commission, the Commission, taking into account the assessment of the ESRB and EBA, if relevant, and if it is satisfied that the O-SII buffer does not entail disproportionate adverse effects on the whole or parts of the financial system of other Member States or of the Union as a whole forming or creating an obstacle to the proper functioning of the internal market, shall adopt an act authorising the competent authority or the designated authority to adopt the proposed measure.
6
When requiring an O-SII buffer to be maintained the competent authority or the designated authority shall comply with the following:
a
the O-SII buffer must not entail disproportionate adverse effects on the whole or parts of the financial system of other Member States or of the Union as a whole forming or creating an obstacle to the functioning of the internal market;
b
the O-SII buffer must be reviewed by the competent authority or the designated authority at least annually.
7
Before setting or resetting an O-SII buffer, the competent authority or the designated authority shall notify the ESRB one month before the publication of the decision referred to in paragraph 5 and shall notify the ESRB three months before the publication of the decision of the competent authority or the designated authority referred to in paragraph 5a. The ESRB shall forward such notifications to the Commission, to EBA and to the competent and designated authorities of the Member States concerned without delay. Such notifications shall set out in detail:
a
the justification for why the O-SII buffer is considered likely to be effective and proportionate to mitigate the risk;
b
an assessment of the likely positive or negative impact of the O-SII buffer on the internal market, based on information which is available to the Member State;
c
the O-SII buffer rate that the Member State wishes to set.
8
Without prejudice to Article 133 and paragraph 5 of this Article, where an O-SII is a subsidiary of either a G-SII or an O-SII which is either an institution or a group headed by an EU parent institution, and subject to an O-SII buffer on a consolidated basis, the buffer that applies on an individual or sub-consolidated basis for the O-SII shall not exceed the lower of:
a
the sum of the higher of the G-SII or the O-SII buffer rate applicable to the group on a consolidated basis and 1 % of the total risk exposure amount calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013; and
b
3 % of the total risk exposure amount calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, or the rate the Commission has authorised to be applied to the group on a consolidated basis in accordance with paragraph 5a of this Article.
9
There shall be at least five sub-categories of G-SIIs. The lowest boundary and the boundaries between each subcategory shall be determined by the scores in accordance with the identification methodology referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article. The cut-off scores between adjacent sub-categories shall be defined clearly and shall adhere to the principle that there is a constant linear increase of systemic significance, between each sub-category resulting in a linear increase in the requirement of additional Common Equity Tier 1 capital, with the exception of sub-category five and any added higher sub-category. For the purposes of this paragraph, systemic significance is the expected impact exerted by the G-SII's distress on the global financial market. The lowest sub-category shall be assigned a G-SII buffer of 1 % of the total risk exposure amount calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and the buffer assigned to each sub-category shall increase in gradients of at least 0,5 % of the total risk exposure amount calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of that Regulation.
10
Without prejudice to paragraphs 1 and 9 and using the sub-categories and cut-off scores referred to in paragraph 9, the competent authority or the designated authority may, in the exercise of sound supervisory judgment:
a
re-allocate a G-SII from a lower sub-category to a higher sub-category;
b
allocate an entity as referred to in paragraph 1 that has an overall score as referred to in paragraph 2 that is lower than the cut-off score of the lowest sub-category to that sub-category or to a higher sub-category, thereby designating it as a G-SII;
c
taking into account the Single Resolution Mechanism, on the basis of the additional overall score referred to in paragraph 2a re-allocate a G-SII from a higher sub-category to a lower sub-category.
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12
The competent authority or the designated authority shall notify to the ESRB the names of the G-SIIs and O-SIIs and the respective sub-category to which each G-SII is allocated. The notification shall contain full reasons why supervisory judgment has been exercised or not in accordance with points (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 10. The ESRB shall forward such notifications to the Commission and to EBA without delay, and shall publicly disclose their names. The competent authorities or designated authorities shall publicly disclose the sub-category to which each G-SII is allocated.
The competent authority or the designated authority shall review annually the identification of G-SIIs and O-SIIs and the G-SII allocation into the respective sub-categories and report the result to the systemically important institution concerned, to the ESRB which shall forward the results to the Commission and to EBA without delay. The competent authority or the designated authority shall publicly disclose the updated list of identified systemically important institutions and the sub-category into which each identified G-SII is allocated.
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14
Where a group, on a consolidated basis, is subject to a G-SII buffer and to an O-SII buffer the higher buffer shall apply.
15
Where an institution is subject to a systemic risk buffer, set in accordance with Article 133, that buffer shall be cumulative with the O-SII buffer or the G-SII buffer that is applied in accordance with this Article.
Where the sum of the systemic risk buffer rate as calculated for the purposes of paragraph 10, 11 or 12 of Article 133 and the O-SII buffer rate or the G-SII buffer rate to which the same institution is subject to would be higher than 5 %, the procedure set out in paragraph 5a of this Article shall apply.
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17 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18
EBA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify, for the purposes of this Article, the methodologies in accordance with which the competent authority or the designated authority shall identify an institution or a group headed by an EU parent institution, an EU parent financial holding company or by an EU parent mixed financial holding company as a G-SII and to specify the methodology for the definition of the sub-categories and the allocation of G-SIIs in the sub-categories based on their systemic significance, taking into account any internationally agreed standards.
EBA shall submit those draft regulatory technical standards to the Commission by
30 June 2014
.
Power is delegated to the Commission to adopt the regulatory technical standards referred to in this paragraph in accordance with Articles 10 to14 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.
Regulation (EU) No 806/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of
15 July 2014
establishing uniform rules and a uniform procedure for the resolution of credit institutions and certain investment firms in the framework of a Single Resolution Mechanism and a Single Resolution Fund and amending Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 (
OJ L 225, 30.7.2014, p. 1
).
Substituted by Directive (EU) 2019/878 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 amending Directive 2013/36/EU as regards exempted entities, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, remuneration, supervisory measures and powers and capital conservation measures (Text with EEA relevance).
Inserted by Directive (EU) 2019/878 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 amending Directive 2013/36/EU as regards exempted entities, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, remuneration, supervisory measures and powers and capital conservation measures (Text with EEA relevance).
Deleted by Directive (EU) 2019/878 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2019 amending Directive 2013/36/EU as regards exempted entities, financial holding companies, mixed financial holding companies, remuneration, supervisory measures and powers and capital conservation measures (Text with EEA relevance).