Source: European Banking Authority
The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its Q4 2024 semi-annual Dashboard on the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities (MREL), which discloses aggregated statistical information for 345 banks earmarked for resolution across the European Union (EU) and for which the EBA has received data about both decisions and resources. All in all, banks meet their MREL requirements in line with the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) deadline of 1 January 2024, as shortfalls are reported only by a few banks, mostly in their transition period towards future requirements. The amount of instruments becoming ineligible over the next year for the sample reached EUR 242bn.
As of 31 December 2024, most banks met their MREL, including the combined buffer requirement (CBR). Only a small number of banks, mostly in their transitioning towards their final MREL targets, reported a shortfall, totalling EUR 2.3bn (or 2.1% of their combined risk-weighted assets).
Banks in the sample reported EUR 242bn of MREL instruments that will become ineligible by the end of December 2025 due to their residual maturity falling below one year. These account for around 20% of MREL eligible instruments other than own funds.
Bail-in strategies continue to be the preferred option in terms of RWAs (94%), whereas in terms of number of decisions, bail-in and transfer strategies rank on the same level (50% each). This reflects the fact that transfer strategies are favoured for smaller banks, while bail-in is the preferred option for the larger ones.
More details on MREL roll over needs are covered in the Spring and Autumn editions of the EBA Risk Assessment Report.
Note to the editors
The EBA is mandated by the BRRD to monitor the setting of MREL by authorities and the build-up of related resources by institutions.
MREL is the requirement that ensures that relevant EU institutions have sufficient loss absorbing capacity to support the execution of the preferred resolution strategy in case of failure.
The BRRD set 1 January 2024 as a deadline to meet MREL requirements except for those banks that recently changed resolution strategy, or those eligible for an extension in accordance with Art.45m of the BRRD.
Furter details on the transition period are provided in the EBA European Resolution Examination Programme (EREP). Discrepancies between the MREL Dashboard and the EREP MREL monitoring may reflect different reference dates. While the EREP is based on 2024 decisions only, the MREL Dashboard includes decisions in force as of 1 May 2025.