The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Guidelines on regulatory disclosure requirements following an update of the Pillar 3 requirements by the Basel Committee in January 2015. These Guidelines represent a significant step forward in the EBA’s effort of improving and enhancing the consistency and comparability of institutions’ regulatory disclosures.

Following the release by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) of a revised version of the Pillar 3 framework (RPF) in January 2015, the EBA published its own initiative Guidelines to ensure the harmonised and timely implementation of the RPF in the EU. These Guidelines while not changing the requirements of the regulatory disclosures defined in Part Eight of the CRR, provide further guidance and support to institutions in complying with both the CRR and the RPF requirements.

In particular, the Guidelines cover the entire content of the RPF, with the exception of securitisation requirements, which are currently under discussions at EU level following the finalisation of a revised securitisation framework at the international level, and other disclosure requirements in Part Eight of the CRR for which there are already EBA Delegated or Implementing Regulations or guidelines, such as own funds and leverage ratio.

The Guidelines apply to Globally and Other Systemically Important Institutions (G-SIIs and O-SIIs). Competent authorities may still require institutions that are neither G-SIIs nor O-SIIs to apply some or all the guidance provided for in these Guidelines when complying with the requirements in Part Eight of the CRR.

Nonetheless, proportionality is embedded in the different disclosure templates and tables. Therefore, smaller, less sophisticated or less complex institutions are expected to have a lower risk profile and will not be subject to all the disclosure requirements. In addition, the concept of materiality allows institutions to tailor the granularity and the frequency of their disclosures.

The Guidelines apply from 31 December 2017, but G-SIIs are encouraged to comply with a subset of those Guidelines as soon as 31 December 2016.

Legal basis and background

These final Guidelines have been developed on the EBA’s own initiative in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 and will complement the EBA Guidelines on liquidity risk disclosures, currently under consultation.

These Guidelines are part of the multifaceted work undertaken by the EBA to improve the consistency and comparability of institutions’ disclosures. Other initiatives that took place in 2016 include the dissemination of individual data as part of the 2016 EU-wide transparency exercise and the 2016 EU-wide stress test exercise.

Source: The European Banking Authority