20 October 2016

EBA recommends that only investment firms identified as GSIIs and OSIIs be subject to the full CRDIV/CRR

In general, the European Banking Authority (EBA) recommends that only those investment firms that are currently identified as Global Systemically Important Institutions (GSIIs) and Other Systemically Important Institutions (OSIIs) remain subject to the full Capital Requirements Directive (CRD)/Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) regime.

The Commission's call for advice of 13 June 2016 follows up on the first two recommendations included in the EBA's Report on investment firms published on 15 December 2015. In particular, the EBA recommends that the following criteria be used to identify those investment firms that should continue to be subject to the CRD/CRR framework:

• systemic importance;
• interconnectedness with the financial system;
• complexity; and
• bank-like activities.

Although this recommendation relies on the EBA Guidelines for the identification of OSIIs, some caveats should be considered when these Guidelines are applied to investment firms. For this reason and in the context of the review of the overall regulatory framework, the EBA also notes that a specific set of Guidelines might be necessary to identify systemic and bank-like investment firms. However, no special derogation or change to the CRR is suggested at this stage.

Press release

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