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Q&As refer to the provisions in force on the day of their publication. The EBA does not systematically review published Q&As following the amendment of legislative acts. Users of the Q&A tool should therefore check the date of publication of the Q&A and whether the provisions referred to in the answer remain the same.

Please note that the Q&As related to the supervisory benchmarking exercises have been moved to the dedicated handbook page. You can submit Q&As on this topic here.

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List of Q&A's

Third country equivalent large financial sector entities

If the Implementing Act of the EU has stated equivalent third countries for investment firms, exchange and credit institution there is no such a list for insurance and re-insurance companies.Nevertheless, if we understand that CRR contains no list of equivalent countries for insurance and re-insurance companies, or no recommendations on EBA to produce such a list, institutions need clear guidelines if they want to correctly apply article 142 (4) of CRR.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1989
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 10/02/2017

Exposure to third country institutions and investment firms

What is the treatment for credit risk purposes of an exposure to an investment firm which is established in that third country and which is subject to the supervisory and regulatory requirements applicable to credit institutions in that country?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1968
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 30/04/2015

Risk weight in CCP-related exposures, rules on 2% AND 4% risk weight

For the purposes of Article 305 (3) is there loss protection if the condition in 305 (2) b) is met but not 305 (2) c)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1946
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 18/03/2016

QRRE loss rate

What is meant by loss rate in this context?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1933
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 25/09/2015

Calculation of unsecured and secured parts of past due items – Standardised approach

Under the standardised approach, when calculating the unsecured part of the exposure for the purpose of computing provisions threshold (20%) under Article 127(1) of the CRR, shall the exposure exclude eligible financial collateral and credit protection that comply with the requirements stated in Part Three, Title II, Chapter 4 of the CRR, ‘Credit Risk Mitigations’, as well as residential real estate and commercial real estate as described in Article 127(3) & (4) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1918
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 01/04/2016

Eligibility of unconditional Financial Letters of Credit as eligible financial collateral

Can an unconditionally drawable Letter of Credit held by an institution as beneficiary be treated as a “cash assimilated instrument” eligible for inclusion by that institution as an item of Funded Credit Protection against an outstanding exposure position for a contingent future payment?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1917
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 06/01/2017

Eligibility of religious communities or churches

Are churches or religious communities eligible protection providers under all approaches and thus included in the list of providers of Article 201 with reference to paragraph 1(b)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1908
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 11/12/2015

Treatment of an asset resulting from obligatory payments to Deposit Guarantee Scheme in Risk Weighted Assets calculation (Standardised Approach).

How should an asset resulting from prepayment of obligatory contribution to Deposit Guarantee Scheme be treated for the purpose of credit risk capital requirements calculation under the Standardised Approach?Should it be recognised as ‘Other assets’ (prepayments to unknown counterparty) or as an exposure to the Deposit Guarantee Scheme?Moreover, if the recognition as an exposure to the Deposit Guarantee Scheme is correct, is it possible to treat the Deposit Guarantee Scheme as a Public Sector Entity which can be treated under Article 116(4) CRR, and therefore assigned a 0% risk weight?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1890
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as Rejected Q&A: 11/02/2022

Risk weight for exposures to unrated institutions

Does Article 121 allow unrated institutions to be assigned government ratings only in the case of a government guarantee for the deposits of that bank? Additionally, does Article 121(3) apply to unrated institutions as well? Does it say that if we have a cash balance in an unrated bank we should assign a risk weight of 20%?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1869
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 11/12/2015

When should an external rating be considered as a primary factor determining an internal rating assignment

Concerning the practical application of the RTS on materiality: When should an external rating be considered as a 'primary factor' determining an internal rating assignment, and by what measure is the relative importance of the different variables comprising an internal model for credit risk to be evaluated?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 529/2014 - RTS on materiality of extensions and changes in the advanced approaches (IRB and AMA)
  • ID: 2015_1859
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 19/06/2015

Applicable exposure class for exposures to institutions based in a third country that does not apply prudential supervisory and regulatory requirements

For those institutions based in a third country that does not apply prudential supervisory and regulatory requirements at least equivalent to those applied in the Union, should the exposure class to these institutions be disclosed as an exposure to corporate or exposure to institution? 

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1806
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as Rejected Q&A: 11/02/2022

Recognition of additional credit protection in the regulatory LGD

It is not clear whether an institution with an IRB Approach permission (Foundation Approach; PD models only) should notify the competent authorities in accordance with Article 143 if they want to recognise additional credit protection in the regulatory LGD in accordance with Article 161(1).

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 529/2014 - RTS on materiality of extensions and changes in the advanced approaches (IRB and AMA)
  • ID: 2015_1792
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 19/06/2015

Credit Risk Mitigation

Can an institution legally "ring fence" cash it has to mitigate an exposure to a counterparty (using it as financial collateral)? The institution does not wish to notify the counterparty. The CRR is not clear on whether financial collateral used to mitigate an exposure must come from the counterparty or not.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1776
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 10/07/2015

Assignment of irrevocable standby letters of credit and guarantees, which neither have the character of credit substitutes nor are related to trade finance, to the relevant risk category according to Annex I of the CRR.

Are irrevocable standby letters of credit and guarantees, which neither have the character of credit substitutes nor are related to trade finance, assigned to the risk category ‘medium risk’ according to Annex I?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2015_1728
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as Rejected Q&A: 11/02/2022

Risk weight of guarantees not in the domestic currency of the borrower

What is the correct risk weight of a loan, which has been granted to a client in euro, and guaranteed by an EU central government also in euro, but the domestic currency of the borrower is not euro?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1697
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as Rejected Q&A: 11/02/2022

Definition of the exposure portfolio for which permanent partial use of standardised approach can be applied for by a credit institution using the IRB approach

Can an IRB credit institution have the standardised approach applied to type of clients to whom the IRB approach is being used? I.e. if the standardised approach is approved for a specific portfolio of exposures, can this portfolio be defined by the type of client only or may it also be defined by the type of business?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1678
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 10/04/2015

Balance Sheet Netting as a CRM technique

Is Balance Sheet Netting according to Article 195 limited to Cash Balances in the same currency?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1413
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as Rejected Q&A: 11/02/2022

PD substitution and eligibility of guarantors

Article 202(d) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) suggests that where risk weighted exposure amounts are calculated under the IRB Approach, a guarantor must have an internal rating in order to be eligible as a guarantor for PD substitution. Can a guarantor, which is rated by an ECAI, and otherwise meets all eligibility requirements but is treated under the Standardised Approach by the institution, be used for PD substitution? How can a guarantee be recognised in this situation?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1381
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 04/09/2015

Classification of invoice discount facilities as full risk items

1. Should invoice discount facilities always be classified as full risk items or may such facilities be classified as medium/low or low risk if they may be cancelled with immediate effect when the assumptions used for setting the limit change? 2. Should the nominal value of an invoice discount facility as an off-balance sheet item be calculated as the difference between the contractual limits of the total credit volumes of clients and the amounts that have been paid to clients for the discounted invoices not yet due for payment from customers?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1324
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 31/10/2014

Material exposure in connection with term "days past-due" in the definition of non-performing exposure

What is the reading of the term "material" exposure in connection with "days past-due" for the purpose of definition of non-performing exposure?Can the "materiality threshold" be applied in a way that the counting of days past due starts when the past-due amount of the whole exposure of the obligor exceeds pre-defined materiality threshold?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Regulation (EU) No 680/2014 - ITS on supervisory reporting of institutions (repealed)
  • ID: 2014_1297
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 11/01/2019