Question ID
2015_2317
Legal act
Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
Topic
Market risk
Article
351, 352
COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs/Recommendations
Not applicable
Article/Paragraph
n.a.
Type of submitter
Consultancy firm
Subject matter
Exclusion of positions from the calculation of net open currency positions
Question

May positions that are already deducted in the calculation of own funds be excluded from the calculation of net open currency positions according to Articles 351, 352 of the Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)? If the answer is "yes", are there any explicit legal provisions that say so?

Background on the question

To the knowledge of the questioner, there are no provisions in the CRR that explicitly allow for excluding positions from the calculation of net open currency positions. In particular, the last sentence of Article 352(2) of the Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) does not contain such a provision. That sentence only refers to positions that relate to positions already deducted, but not the deducted positions themselves.

Thus, it remains unclear whether deducted positions need to be taken into account for RWA calculation. On the other hand, it seems inappropriate to have such positions considered as risky assets for the purpose of RWA calculation even though they do not even count as own funds.

The above question can be generalized to all market risks (position risk, equity risk, commodity risk) and even more to other asset-based risk types like credit risk. It would be helpful if you could answer the question in general if the answer is "yes" in all cases.

Submission date
Final publishing date
Final answer

Under Article 352(2) of the Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) ‘structural FX’ positions as well as FX positions related to items that are deducted in the calculation of own funds may, subject to conditions and an explicit permission by competent authorities, be excluded from the calculation of net open currency positions. In this regard, “positions which relate to items that are already deducted” shall mean the deducted item itself.

The ‘de minimis’ exemption for FX established in Article 351 CRR states that the positions have to be calculated in accordance with Article 352 CRR. Accordingly, when calculating the ‘de minimis’ exemption, institutions should exclude positions related to items that are deducted in the calculation of own funds, provided its competent authority has explicitly authorised this treatment.

Status
Final Q&A
Answer prepared by
Answer prepared by the EBA.
Note to Q&A

Update 26.03.2021: This Q&A has been reviewed in the light of the changes introduced to Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) and continues to be relevant.

Disclaimer

The Q&A refers 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.