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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

Deviations between the definition of SA exposure value for securitisation exposures and for other exposure classes

The exposure value for all other exposure classes corresponds to the accounting value after SCRA, Prudent Valuation and other own funds reductions that relate to the asset item (Article 111(1) Regulation (EU) No 575/2013). The exposure value for securitisation exposures corresponds to the accounting value after SCRA based on article 110 CRR, without taking into account Prudent Valuation or other own funds reductions related to the asset item. Is this deviation intended?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_230
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 28/11/2014

Use of an insitution's own estimates of conversion factors

In applying Article 166(10) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR), may competent authorities grant permission to institutions to use their own estimates of conversion factors (as is permitted for certain exposures under Articles 151(7) and (9)) for off-balance sheet exposures which are not listed under Article 166(8)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1263
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 21/11/2014

Recognition of real estate as commercial property

1. What kind of assets are to be included in the “Residential” and “Commercial” categories within “Mortgage Loans” for the purposes of supervisory reporting? For instance where should institutions assign garages, plots of land, storage rooms and rustic property etc. which are used as collateral? Are there more specific criteria to be used in assigning these assets? 2. Can we recognize as Commercial Real Estate the following types of property: Land for development, factories, plots of land for commercial purposes, slotted houses, schools and quarries etc.?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1214
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 21/11/2014

Maturity under Article 162 of Regularion (EU) No 575/2013

Under the provisions of Article 162(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR), how should an instrument with a scheduled cash flow, where the institution may opt for prolonging the contract for another period, be treated?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_687
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 21/11/2014

Maturity (M) for short-term credit line contracts which are continuously rolled over.

This query regards the setting of the maturity parameter (M) for corporate exposures when applying the IRB approach. In this respect, we are referring to facilities subject to Article 162(2)(f) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR): “(f) for any other instrument than those mentioned in this paragraph or when an institution is not in a position to calculate M as set out in (a), M shall be the maximum remaining time (in years) that the obligor is permitted to take to fully discharge its contractual obligations, where M shall be at least 1 year;” Consider exposures where the credit contract stipulates a short-term contractual maturity (say 1 year). If an institution typically rolls over such facilities, possibly after rigorous, annual credit processes so that the de-facto maturity is greater than the contractual, should the institution then be allowed to apply the contract length as maturity?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_686
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 21/11/2014

Definition of unregulated financial sector entities

In applying the 1.25 co-efficient specified under Article 153(2) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, what is that definition of "unregulated financial sector entities"?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_516
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 14/11/2014

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

Definition of Investments in Private Equity

Do investments in private equity referred to under Article 128(2)(c) of Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 only relate to investments in CIU?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_374
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 17/10/2014

Risk Weights for International Organisations

Could you please advise what risk weight/treatments should be applied to International Organisations that are not included in Article 118 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_968
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 10/10/2014

Definition of independent valuer referred to in Article 229(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)

1. What is a definition of independent valuer referred to in Article 229(1)? 2. Whether the definition of independent valuer referred to in Article 229(1) is specified in Article 208(3)(b)? 3. Whether independent valuer is defined as a person who possesses the necessary qualifications, ability and experience to execute a valuation and who is independent from the credit decision process? 4. Whether the Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) imposes additional obligations than those indicated in Article 208(3)(b) on a person who execute valuation as independent valuer? 5. Whether an independent valuer referred to in Article 229(1) may be an employee of the bank? 6. Whether CRR excludes the possibility of valuing the property for the purposes of Article 229(1) by employees of the bank?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1056
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 03/10/2014

Treatment of recognised exchanges (non-third country vs. third country)

Are exchanges, explicitly exchanges according to Article 4(1)(72) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR), also treated like institutions?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_677
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 03/10/2014

Relevance of Issuers Rating for Article 120 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)

Does Article 120 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) refer to claims only, where there is an issue-related rating existing, or does it also cover claims, where no rating exists for the issue, but for the issuer?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_652
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 03/10/2014

Under the large exposure regime Article 390 (6)(e) of CRR provides an exemption for deduction of items according to article 36, 56 and 66. These deducted items must not be considered in the large exposure regime.

Is it correct that deducted equity exposures do not need to be reported in the solvency regime as well (=same procedure as in Large Exposure regime) or do they have to be reported in asset class “equity exposures” with a risk weight of 0%?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_482
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 19/09/2014

Non Credit Obligation Assets

Paragraph 5 of article 148 of CRR, states "An institution that is permitted to use the IRB Approach for any exposure class shall use the IRB Approach for the equity exposure class laid down in point (e) of Article 147(2), except where that institution is permitted to apply the Standardised Approach for equity exposures pursuant to Article 150 and for the other non credit-obligation assets exposure class laid down in point (g) of Article 147(2)." It is not clear whether an institution with an IRB Approach permission should treat "non customer assets" e.g. fixed assets, cash etc under the IRB approach (reported as Non Credit Obligation) or under the standardised approach (reported as Other Assets)

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_810
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 12/09/2014

Bestimmung der Forderungsklasse von Zentralbanken mit Gesellschaftsform Aktiengesellschaft (EN: Determination of the exposure class for central banks that take the form of a public limited company)

In welche KSA- und IRBA- Forderungsklasse sind die Aktien von (EU- Zentralbanken z.B. Griechenland) einzustufen? EN Translation: In which CRSA and IRBA exposure class are the shares of EU central banks (e.g. Greece) to be classified?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_586
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 29/08/2014

Items associated with particular high risk secured with eligible real estate

How do we treat the exposures that would have been otherwise categorised as "Items associated with particular high risk" and which at the same time are secures with mortgages on immovable property? a) Ignore the collateral which opposes the spirit of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR) and Credit risk mitigation (CRM) i.e. CRM is recognised when it decreases the Credit risk? b) Recognise them in the exposure class "Secured with mortgages on immovable property"? Additionally, if these items are also in default, should they be recognised in the "In default" exposure class? c) Recognise them in the exposure class "Items associated with particular high risk" and apply the lower RW that are associated with the exposures secures with mortgages on immovable property?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_215
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 14/08/2014

Eligible collateral for the purpose of credit risk mitigation

Are American Depository Receipt (ADR) and Global Depository Receipt (GDR) considered as equity for the purpose of credit risk mitigation?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_1073
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 25/07/2014

Highly leveraged obligors

How to define/identify 'highly leveraged obligors' under Article 180(1)(a)?

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2013_430
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 25/07/2014

Inclusion of additional value adjustments in the IRB treatment of expected loss

In CRR article 159 we read the following: "Institutions shall subtract the expected loss amounts calculated in accordance with Article 158 (5), (6) and (10) from the general and specific credit risk adjustments and additional value adjustments in accordance with Articles 34 and 110 and other own funds reductions related to these exposures." Due to the wording and the grammatical structure of the above sentence we are having doubts as to which amounts should actually be used in the IRB treatment of expected losses.

  • Legal act: Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 (CRR)
  • COM Delegated or Implementing Acts/RTS/ITS/GLs: Not applicable
  • ID: 2014_950
  • Topic: Credit risk
  • Date of submission:
  • Published as final Q&A: 11/07/2014