25 May 2017

EBA consults on scope of its draft guidelines on connected clients

In the new consultation, the EBA is proposing to extend the scope of these draft Guidelines to the remaining aspects of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR), the EBA technical standards, and the EBA guidelines where the concept of group of connected client is relevant. The extension of the scope would ensure the consistent application of this concept throughout the CRR and the harmonisation of institutions' practices. The consultation runs until 26 June 2017.

In the draft guidelines the EBA provides guidance on two types of interconnection, i.e. control relationships and economic dependencies, which lead to the formation of groups of connected clients. In its first consultation document, the EBA proposed that the Guidelines on connected clients should apply only in the context of the large exposures regime. 

However, the concept of ‘group of connected clients' is also used in other areas of the CRR, such as the categorisation of clients in the retail exposure class for the purposes of credit risk, the development and application of rating systems, the specification of items requiring stable funding for the purposes of reporting, and the application of the SME supporting factor. In addition, this concept is also used in other EBA technical standards and guidelines. 

Respondents to the first consultation have, therefore, raised questions and comments on the scope of application of the Guidelines, as it was restricted to the large exposures regime.

In this second consultation, the EBA is considering to extend the scope of the draft Guidelines to the remaining aspects of the CRR, the EBA technical standards, and the EBA guidelines where the concept of ‘group of connected client' is relevant and would like to understand the possible impact in terms of institutions' practices and capital requirements. 

‎Comments to this consultation can be sent to the EBA by 26 June 2017. 

Press release

Consultation paper

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