SECTION 2 Supervisory permission for reducing own funds

Article 27Meaning of sustainable for the income capacity of the institution for the purposes of Article 78(1)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013

Sustainable for the income capacity of the institution under point (a) of Article 78(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 shall mean that the profitability of the institution, as assessed by the competent authority, continues to be sound or does not see any negative change after the replacement of the instruments with own funds instruments of equal or higher quality, at that date and for the foreseeable future. The competent authority’s assessment shall take into account the institution’s profitability in stress situations.

Article 28Process and data requirements for an application by an institution to carry out redemptions, reductions and repurchases — for the purposes of Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/20131.

Redemptions, reductions and repurchases of own funds instruments shall not be announced to holders of the instruments before the institution has obtained the prior approval of the competent authority.

Where redemptions, reductions and repurchases are expected to take place with sufficient certainty, and once the prior permission of the competent authority has been obtained, the institution shall deduct the corresponding amounts to be redeemed, reduced or repurchased from corresponding elements of its own funds before the effective redemptions, reductions or repurchases occur. Sufficient certainty is deemed to exist in particular when the institution has publicly announced its intention to redeem, reduce or repurchase an own funds instrument.

Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply at the consolidated, sub-consolidated and individual levels of application of prudential requirements, where applicable.

Article 29Submission of application by the institution to carry out redemptions, reductions and repurchases for the purposes of Article 77 and Article 78 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 and appropriate bases of limitation of redemption for the purposes of paragraph 3 of Article 78 of Regulation (EU) No 575/20131.

An institution shall submit an application to the competent authority before reducing or repurchasing Common Equity Tier 1 instruments or calling, redeeming or repurchasing Additional Tier 1 or Tier 2 instruments.

The application may include a plan to carry out, over a limited period of time, actions listed in Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 for several capital instruments.

In the case of a repurchase of Common Equity Tier 1 instruments, Additional Tier 1 instruments or Tier 2 instruments for market making purposes, competent authorities may give their permission in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 78 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 in advance to actions listed in Article 77 of that Regulation for a certain predetermined amount.

(a)

For Common Equity Tier 1 instruments, that amount shall not exceed the lower of the following amounts:

(1)

3 % of the amount of the relevant issuance;

(2)

10 % of the amount by which Common Equity Tier 1 capital exceeds the sum of the Common Equity Tier 1 capital requirements pursuant to Article 92 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the specific own funds requirements referred to in Article 104(1)(a) of Directive 2013/36/EU and the combined buffer defined in the Capital Buffers Part of the PRA rulebook .

(b)

For Additional Tier 1 instrument or Tier 2 instruments, that predetermined amount shall not exceed the lower of the following amounts:

(1)

10 % of the amount of the relevant issuance;

(2)

or 3 % of the total amount of outstanding Additional Tier 1 instruments or Tier 2 instruments, as applicable.

Competent authorities may also give in advance their permission to actions listed in Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 where the related own funds instruments are passed on to employees of the institution as part of their remuneration. Institutions shall inform competent authorities where own funds instruments are purchased for these purposes and deduct these instruments from own funds on a corresponding deduction approach for the time they are held by the institution. A deduction on a corresponding basis is no longer required, where the expenses related to any action according to this paragraph are already included in own funds as a result of an interim or a year-end financial report.

A competent authority may give its permission in advance in accordance with the criteria set out in Article 78 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 to an action listed in Article 77 of that Regulation for a certain predetermined amount when the amount of own funds instruments to be called, redeemed or repurchased is immaterial in relation to the outstanding amount of the corresponding issuance after the call, redemption or repurchase has taken place.

Paragraphs 1 to 5 shall apply at the consolidated, sub-consolidated and individual levels of application of prudential requirements, where applicable.

Article 30Content of the application to be submitted by the institution for the purposes of Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/20131.

The application referred to in Article 29 shall be accompanied by the following information:

(a)

a well-founded explanation of the rationale for performing one of the actions referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 29;

(b)

information on capital requirements and capital buffers, covering at least a three year period, including the level and composition of own funds before and after the performing of the action and the impact of the action on regulatory requirements;

(c)

the impact on the profitability of the institution of a replacement of a capital instrument as specified in point (a) of Article 78(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013;

(d)

an evaluation of the risks to which the institution is or might be exposed and whether the level of own funds ensures an appropriate coverage of such risks, including stress tests on main risks evidencing potential losses under different scenarios;

(e)

any other information considered necessary by the competent authority for evaluating the appropriateness of granting a permission according to Article 78 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013.

The competent authority shall waive the submission of some of the information listed in paragraph 2 where it is satisfied that this information is already available to it.

Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply at the individual, consolidated and sub-consolidated levels of application of prudential requirements, where applicable.

Article 31Timing of the application to be submitted by the institution and processing of the application by the competent authority for the purposes of Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/20131.

The institution shall transmit a complete application and the information referred to in Articles 29 and 30 to the competent authority at least three months in advance of the date where one of the actions listed in Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 will be announced to the holders of the instruments.

Competent authorities may allow institutions on a case-by-case basis and under exceptional circumstances to transmit the application referred to in paragraph 1 within a time frame shorter than the three months period.

The competent authority shall process an application during either the period of time referred to in paragraph 1 or during the period of time referred to in paragraph 2. Competent authorities shall take into account new information, where any is available and where they consider this information to be material, received during this period. The competent authorities shall begin processing the application only when they are satisfied that the information required under Article 28 has been received from the institution.

Article 32Applications for redemptions, reductions and repurchases by mutuals, cooperative societies, savings institutions or similar institutions for the purposes of Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/20131.

With regard to the redemption of Common Equity Tier 1 instruments of mutuals, cooperative societies, savings institutions or similar institutions, the application referred to in Article 29(1), (2) and (6) and the information referred to in Article 30(1) shall be submitted to the competent authority with the same frequency as that used by the competent body of the institution to examine redemptions.

Competent authorities may give their permission in advance to an action listed in Article 77 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 for a certain predetermined amount to be redeemed, net of the amount of the subscription of new paid in Common Equity Tier 1 instruments during a period up to one year. That predetermined amount may go up to 2 % of Common Equity Tier 1 capital, if they are satisfied that this action will not pose a danger to the current of future solvency situation of the institution.