Dutch Special Envoy for Syria meets with interim government in Damascus

Source: Government of the Netherlands

The Netherlands’ Special Envoy for Syria, Gijs Gerlag, visited Damascus on 2 and 4 January 2025. His programme included a meeting with the new interim government led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), during which Mr Gerlag passed on messages from the Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasising the need for an inclusive political transition and the protection of minorities. The special envoy’s visit was also intended to obtain insight into the current situation in Syria, with a focus on security. 

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Special Envoy Gijs Gerlag with Mr Al Afar, close advisor to new foreign minister

‘The Netherlands believes an inclusive, Syrian-led political transition is key for sustainable stability in Syria,’ foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said. ‘It is essential that Christian, Kurdish and other minority communities participate in this process and that human rights are respected. Through Mr Gerlag’s visit, we are exploring how the Netherlands and the EU can support the process of political transition in Syria. Promoting stability in Syria also serves the Netherlands’ interests, for instance, in regard to counterterrorism and the return of refugees. Our special envoy also conveyed that the Netherlands remains committed to achieving justice for the human rights violations that were perpetrated.’

Mr Gerlag had meetings the Office of the UN Special Envoy to Syria; the office of  the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); the coordination platform for Damascus-based humanitarian NGO’s (DINGO); and Christian religious leaders.

Mr Gerlag’s meeting with the interim government led by HTS was a first meeting to establish contact. There are currently no plans to open a Dutch embassy in Damascus. It remains to be seen how HTS and other groups will carve out a new administration. Together with likeminded countries, the Dutch government is examining how a process of inclusive and peaceful political transition in Syria can be supported.

ESAs are recruiting Heads of Unit for their DORA Joint Oversight Team

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – ESAs) today kicked off a joint recruitment process for Heads of Unit (AD9) in the Joint Oversight team that was set up to carry out the oversight of the Information and Communication Technology Critical Third-Party Providers (CTPPs) under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA).

The Heads of Unit, who will be assigned to each ESA, will be part of the DORA Joint Oversight Team.

To ensure cross-sectoral coordination and pool resources, the ESAs will carry out oversight activities of critical third-party providers (CTPPs) in a Joint Oversight team working as one team, headed by Marc Andries, the DORA Joint Oversight Director.

The Joint Oversight team will eventually be made up of 30 staff across the ESAs and will be complemented by experts from the Competent Authorities (CA).

The Heads of Unit will be responsible for organising the oversight activities for the CTPPs under their Unit’s remit. Each Unit will regroup several Joint Examination Teams (JETs) dealing with the main types of ICT services provided by CTPPs.

Recruitment

The Selection Board is composed of the DORA Joint Oversight Director as Chair, HR and Staff Committee s from ESMA as the coordinating ESA as well as staff from the other ESAs as members. For more information, please refer to the full vacancy notice. The deadline for applications is 30 January 2025.  

The EBA responds to a law firm on the treatment of some legacy instruments of Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today a response to the letter received from a law firm on 18 June 2024, regarding the intention of Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel (BFCM), based in France, to keep some legacy instruments in its balance sheet without any regulatory value.

The EBA has carefully assessed the aspects related to ranking and subordination. While the instruments have been rightfully disqualified from all layers of capital and eligible liabilities under applicable grandfathering provisions, they still rank pari passu with fully eligible own funds instruments, creating undue complexity within the balance sheet of the issuer and raising concerns in terms of ranking. Therefore, it is the EBA’s view that BFCM should target the redemption of these instruments.

In addition, the EBA recalls that the options contained in the EBA Opinion on legacy instruments were meant for institutions to explore how to dispose of remaining legacy instruments to clean their capital structure and ensure a clear subordination ranking within and between regulatory stacks, while preventing unnecessary complexity. Keeping legacy instruments in the balance sheet was considered to be a last resort option, in cases where the other options provided in the Opinion were not available for institutions. In this regard, it has always been the EBA’s expectation that legacy instruments should be phased out.

Note to the editors

In October 2020, the EBA published its Opinion on the prudential treatment of so-called ‘Legacy instruments’ in the context of the end of the grandfathering period in December 2021. On 7 July 2022, the EBA published the outcome of the implementation of its Opinion.

The EBA published a Handbook on independent valuers for resolution purposes

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published a Handbook on independent valuers for resolution purposes. The Handbook enhances convergence by providing best practices, high-quality methodologies and processes for the selection and appointment of independent valuers for resolution purposes, as well as examples on the application of these methodologies under some scenarios.

The EBA has developed this Handbook with the view of improving the process of selecting independent valuers and facilitating its implementation by resolution authorities. The Handbook also identifies safeguards which could mitigate the effects of a potential conflict of interest hampering the independence of the valuer.

The Handbook’s structure follows a chronological order, covering actions before, during and after the appointment of the independent valuer. The preparatory arrangements include actions, such as market research, framework contracts and internal procedures. The Handbook includes specific sections dealing with the assessment of the valuer’s independence and the application of safeguards. Finally, after the appointment of the independent valuer, the Handbook includes aspects such as the maintenance of policies and procedures to identify and manage conflicts of interest.

Note to the editors

The Handbook has been compiled in line with Article 8(1)(ab) of Regulation 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and the Council, establishing the EBA, which mandates the EBA to develop and maintain “an up-to-date Union resolution handbook on the resolution of financial institutions in the Union which is to set out best practices and high-quality methodologies and processes for resolution, taking into account the work of the Single Resolution Board, and changing business practices and business models and the size of financial institutions and of markets“.

This Handbook provides best practices and high-quality methodologies and processes for the selection and appointment of independent valuers for resolution purposes in accordance with article 36 and 74 of Directive 2014/59/EU of the European Parliament and the Council

The Handbook identifies best practices for the three elements of independence that the resolution authorities should assess for the valuer in line with the existing regulatory framework, which states that the valuer should: i) possess the necessary qualifications, experience, ability, knowledge and resources; ii) be legally separated from the relevant public authority and the relevant entity; and iii) have no material common or conflicting interest with the relevant public authority or the relevant entity.

Overall, the EBA observes a stable number of monitored high earners in the EU in 2023

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its Dashboard on high earners for 2023. The analysis shows a slight increase in the number of individuals working for EU banks and decrease for investment firms who have received a remuneration of more than EUR 1 million. 

In 2023, the total number of high earners receiving a remuneration of more than EUR 1 million remained constant at 2 343, while that of high earners in credit institutions slightly increased by 5.21% (from 2 017 in 2022 to 2 122 in 2023), and of high earners in investment firms decreased by 32% (from 325 in 2022 to 221 in 2023). The drop in high earners reported by investment firms can be attributed to the less profitable financial year and lower market volatility.

The EBA’s analysis includes data on the gender distribution among high earners, highlighting the existence of a persistent gender imbalance within the financial sector, and particularly the highest paid positions.

The weighted average ratio of variable to fixed remuneration for all high earners of credit institutions increased to 87.8 %, while the average ratio dropped to 304.8% for high earners of investment firms, for which the limits to the ratio between the variable and the fixed remuneration under CRD do no longer apply as of 2021. 

Legal basis and next steps

This Report has been developed in accordance with Article 75(3) of Directive 2013/36/EU and Article 34 (4) of Directive (EU) 2019/2034, which mandates the EBA to collect information on the number of individuals per institution that are remunerated EUR one million or more per financial year (high earners) in pay brackets EUR one million, including the business area involved and the main elements of salary, bonus, long-term award and pension contribution.

The EBA will continue to publish data on high earners annually, to closely monitor and evaluate developments in this area. 

EU/EEA banks’ profitability is holding up well despite declining net interest margin

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its Q3 2024 Risk Dashboard (RDB), which discloses aggregated statistical information for the largest EU/EEA institutions.

  • EU/EEA banks’ return on equity (RoE) increased slightly on a quarterly basis by 20bps to 11.1% (unchanged on a yearly basis). The increase was driven by the positive contribution of other operating income, and the decline in all major expense components. Net interest income and net trading income negatively contributed to the change in ROE.
  • The net interest margin (NIM) is slightly declining from the historical peak in Q1 by 3 basis points to 1.66% (see Fig. 1). The cost of risk continued its decline, and it stands now at 47bps.After the modest recovery observed in the first half of the year, outstanding loans slightly decreased driven by lower loans to non-financial corporates (NFC; -1.6%), while loans towards households remained stable over the quarter.
  • Asset quality remains stable, with the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio slightly increasing by 2bps to 1.88%. The share of Stage 2 loans stands at 9.2%, after it marginally decreased over the quarter (9.3% in June 2024) (see Fig. 2). Based on the results of the EBA’s recently conducted risk assessment questionnaire, nearly half of the banks expect a deterioration in asset quality over the next 6 to 12 months, particularly in the consumer credit, SME, and CRE sectors. The share is, however, lower than in previous surveys.
  • On a fully loaded basis, EU/EEA banks’ common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio slightly declined by10bps to 16.0% in the last quarter, remaining well above the requirements.
  • The liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and net stable funding ratio (NSFR) both declined to 161.4% and 127.2%, respectively, but remain well above minimum requirements. The share of cash and reserves in the LCR further declined in favour of sovereign exposures (see Fig. 3).

Note to editors

Key indicators have been visualised in a dynamic way. To facilitate the navigation, here is the full list of key indicators that you can find in the graphs:

  • Slide 1: EU/EEA banks’ net interest margin (NIM) slightly declining in Q3 from its previous peak [DOWNLOAD DATA]
  • Slide 2: NPL volume and ratio marginally increased, stage 2 volume and ratio declined [DOWNLOAD DATA | STAGE TWO DATA]
  • Slide 3: Share of cash and reserves in EU/EEA banks’ high quality liquid assets further declined [DOWNLOAD DATA]

The figures included in the Risk Dashboard are based on a sample of 164 banks, covering more than 80% of the EU/EEA banking sector (by total assets), at the highest level of consolidation, while country aggregates also include large subsidiaries (the list of banks can be found here).

The EBA provides further guidance on reporting requirements under the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its final Guidelines on reporting requirements under the Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation (MiCAR) to ensure that Competent Authorities receive sufficient comparable information to supervise compliance of issuers with MiCAR requirements and provide the EBA with the information necessary to conduct the significance assessment under MiCAR.

These Guidelines aim at closing the reporting data gaps identified by the EBA, enhancing supervisory convergence, facilitating a common supervisory approach across Member States as well as ensuring a level playing field in the Single Market. They will equip Competent Authorities with sufficient comparable information to supervise compliance of issuers with MiCAR requirements. Additionally, they will ensure that the EBA has the necessary information to conduct the annual significance assessment under MiCAR.

These Guidelines also include common templates and instructions that issuers should use to collect the data they need from the relevant Crypto-Asset Service Providers (CASPs), in line with the data sharing approach implemented by the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2902.

In addition, to support compliance by issuers of asset referenced tokens (ARTs) and e-money tokens (EMTs) with the requirements set by the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2902 and these Guidelines, the EBA also published a visual explainer providing guidance on which templates should be submitted by the different types of issuers.

Legal basis and background

MiCAR regulates the offering to the public and admission to trading of ARTs, EMTs and other types of crypto-assets, as well as the provision of crypto-asset services in the EU. MiCAR sets out a wide range of regulatory requirements, including authorisations, conduct and prudential requirements for issuers of ARTs and EMTs, and mandates the issuers of certain tokens to report certain data points to the Competent Authorities under Article 22 MiCAR.

These Guidelines are developed on an own initiative basis pursuant to Article 16 of the EBA Founding Regulation – (EU) No 1093/2010, providing the EBA with the power to issue guidelines addressed to competent authorities or financial institutions. In accordance with Article 16(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, competent authorities and financial institutions must make every effort to comply with the Guidelines.

They are addressed to competent authorities as defined in Article 3(1) point (35) of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 and to issuers of ARTs and issuers of EMTs.

The EBA publishes final draft technical standards on the conditions for determining whether an instrument attracting residual risk acts as a hedge

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published its final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) on the conditions for determining whether an instrument attracting residual risk acts as a hedge. These RTS are part of the Phase 1 deliverables of the EBA roadmap on the implementation of the EU banking package in the area of market risk.

One of the pillars of the standardised approach/ sensitivity-based method (SA/SbM) under the new fundamental review of the trading book (FRTB) framework is the residual risk add-on (RRAO). The EU Banking Package introduces a provision in the RRAO framework allowing the exemption from the RRAO charge for those instruments bearing residual risks that are, in turn, used to hedge instruments bearing residual risks.

These RTS specify when an instrument qualifies as a hedge for the purpose of the exemption and when not. In particular, the RTS require institutions to identify whether the RRAO charge for which the institution seeks the exemption relates to a risk factor that is not shocked in the SbM (i.e. a non-SbM risk factor), or if it is down to other reasons. When the RRAO relates exclusively to a non-SbM risk factor, the RTS envisage conditions aiming at assessing whether, as a result of the hedge, the sensitivity towards the non-SbM risk factor is reduced. Under this circumstance, constant-maturity spread plain vanilla options are  should fall.

A similar framework is applied to instruments referencing an exotic underlying in the form of dividend, future realised volatility or variance. On the other hand, where the RRAO charge is due to other reasons than the presence of a non-SbM risk factor, or an exotic underlying in the form of dividend, future realised volatility or variance, the RTS allow the hedging instrument to be recognised as hedge, and as such exempted from the RRAO charge, only if it completely offsets the RRAO risk stemming from the hedged instruments.

Legal basis and background

The draft RTS on the FRTB have been developed according to Article 325(u)(6) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR), as amended by the CRR3, which mandates the EBA to specify criteria to identify positions attracting residual risk that act as a hedge. 

In light of the postponement of the FRTB (), it is worth noting that these RTS are still needed for the implementation of the CRR as of 1 January, given that the  FRTB-SA will apply for the purposes of the output floor calculation. The delivery of the RTS will, therefore, provide clarity on this aspect for the implementation of the EU Banking Package.

The ESAs’ Dry Run exercise shows the goal of reporting of registers of information under Digital Operational Resilience Act in 2025 within reach

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) published today a summary report with the key findings from the 2024 Dry Run exercise on reporting the registers of information under the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). The conclusions and lessons learnt as well as individual data quality feedback provided to financial entities during the exercise will aid preparations for the official reporting starting in 2025.

The quality of data observed in the registers submitted by almost 1,000 financial entities across the EU was in line with the ESAs’ expectations, considering the ‘best effort’ nature of the exercise. Of the registers analysed, 6.5% successfully passed all data quality checks, while 50% of the remaining registers failed less than 5 out of 116 data quality checks.

The ESAs are confident that the objective of having registers of sufficient quality in 2025 that would allow for the designation of critical third-party service providers (CTPPs) is not out of reach, subject to some additional efforts from the industry.

The key findings presented in the summary report and all supporting materials provided by the ESAs should be carefully considered by all industry stakeholders, including those financial entities that did not participate in the Dry Run exercise, as they will help them to be better prepared to report the registers in 2025.

Support to the industry

To support the Dry Run exercise and wider industry preparation, the ESAs provided numerous tools such as templates for the registers, a draft data point model, a draft reporting taxonomy, examples and instructions for filling data fields, and a tool for converting submissions into the required reporting format. Furthermore, the ESAs supported financial entities through a series of workshops, maintained and updated a ‘frequently asked questions’ document and responded to the individual queries through an email-based ‘hotline’.

The ESAs have applied data quality checks to all the registers that have been received and have shared individual feedback on the data quality issues with the competent authorities, which were in turn shared with the participating financial entities.

In November 2024, the ESAs also published a list of validation rules that will be used when analysing the registers of information in the official reporting in 2025 as well as the visual representation of the data model. These rules will be included in the updated technical reporting package (including updated data point model, taxonomy and validation rules), which will be published in the coming weeks. All preparatory materials are collated on the dedicated EBA webpage.

The ESAs are also continuing with the Dry Run workshops for the industry. The last workshop in the series will be held on 18 December, and will focus on the Dry Run summary report and the changes to the final ITS on the Registers of information.

The preparatory efforts should not stop with the completion of the Dry Run exercise. The individual data quality feedback provided to the financial entities should help them continue improving the quality of their data and ensure that the registers to be submitted in 2025 meet the regulatory requirements, are complete and provide all the necessary information for the designation of critical ICT third-party providers (CTPPs) by the ESAs.

Background

Since April 2024, the ESAs have been supporting the financial entities in their preparations for setting up and reporting the registers of information in relation to all contractual arrangements on the use of ICT services provided by the ICT third-party service providers (ICT TPPs). This mainly took the form of a dedicated Dry Run exercise that allowed for the testing of the reporting processes in an environment as close as possible to the upcoming first iteration of the official reporting in 2025, when the registers will be used by the ESAs for the purposes of designation of CTPPs to be under their oversight. 

The EBA publishes a no action letter on the application of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation

Source: European Banking Authority

The European Banking Authority (EBA) today published a no action letter stating that competent authorities (CAs) should not prioritise any supervisory or enforcement action in relation to the processing of applications for initial margin (IM) model authorisation received as a result of the entry into force of EMIR 3. The no action letter, developed in cooperation with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), applies until key deliverables mandated under EMIR 3 become applicable.

The no action letter sets a registration process for counterparties in scope of IM model authorisation, specifying in its annex the information that counterparties should include as part of any first application submitted to CAs after the entry into force of EMIR 3, as well as for subsequent yearly updates to such application. As per the no action letter, however, CAs should not prioritise the processing of such applications, until the draft RTS on Initial Margin Model Validation (IMMV) and the guidelines on application and authorisation process mandated under EMIR 3 come into application, as those regulatory deliverables are expected to specify key requirements for the application and authorisation process, as well as for the assessment of model changes, which are missing at the moment.

EMIR 3 requires, for the first time in the EU, that counterparties apply for authorisation to their CAs before using, or adopting a change to, a model for initial margin calculation. The application of validation and authorisation requirements for IM models may raise difficulties for CAs and counterparties immediately upon entry into force of EMIR 3. This situation will persist until the EBA has set up its central validation function and until the draft RTS on IMMV and the guidelines on application and authorisation process mandated under EMIR 3 are in place.

The no action letter is addressed to all CAs and is applicable to all counterparties falling within the scope of IM model authorisation under EMIR 3.

Legal basis and background

The legal basis for the EBA to issue that opinion is included in Article 9c of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010[1] (EBA founding Regulation), which provides that the EBA may issue no-action letters, if it considers that the application of one of the relevant legislative acts is liable to raise significant issues, as provisions contained in such act may directly conflict with another relevant act, and if it has received relevant information and considers on the basis of that information that the application of the relevant provisions raises significant exceptional issues pertaining to market confidence, consumer, customer or investor protection, the orderly functioning and integrity of financial markets or commodity markets, or the stability of the whole or part of the financial system in the Union.

EMIR 3 was published on 4 December 2024 in the Official Journal of the European Union and will apply on 24 December 2024. Regulation (EU) 2024/2987 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2024