ECB meaning

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is no longer maintained. A bank loan is treated as a non-performing loan (NPL) if more than 90 days pass without the borrower making the agreed instalments or interest payments. Banks experienced an accumulation of NPLs in their books when borrowers' inability to repay was intensified by the financial crisis and subsequent recessions. When NPLs are proportionately high, banks' capacity to manage the riskiness of their lending is diminished. NPLs are a supervisory priority for the European Central Bank (ECB), which monitors the overall level of NPLs across euro area banks. Under the supervisory review and evaluation process (SREP), the ECB assesses whether individual banks adequately manage loan risk and whether they have suitable strategies, governance arrangements and processes in place. The ECB also regularly undertakes co-ordinated exercises to review the asset quality of the banks it directly supervises—it works with national supervisors to establish a consistent and effective approach to tackling and reducing bad loans, drawing on best practices as set...

Set out below are the key practical competition law considerations when preparing and submitting the Form CO to the European Commission (the Commission): Confirm eligibility for a Short Form CO to reduce disclosures. Build in time; a full Form demands extensive data, including Member State market shares. For turnover, use the Commission’s official ECB exchange rate and support the filing with economic analysis. If information is unavailable, explain why and estimate; if requests seem irrelevant, justify and obtain a waiver with the case team. Check accuracy; inaccuracies render the Form CO ineffective until the Commission is satisfied. Provide precise contact details for customers, competitors and suppliers, and include caveats for any assumptions. Allow time for authorisations and, where required, signature of the declaration by the relevant business person or in-house lawyers. Prepare required copies (one original, three paper, two CD or DVD) and translate supporting documents not in an EU official language. Review supporting documents for any “anti-competitive” language...

This timeline outlines key developments relating to the Capital Requirements Directive IV (Directive 2013/36/EU) (CRD IV) and the Capital Requirements Regulation (EU) 575/2013 (EU CRR) from January 2024 onwards. For earlier developments, see: Capital Requirements Directive IV (CRD IV) and Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR)-timeline [Archived]. 2026 8 May 2026 - EBA The EBA consults on amendments to the RTS on the assignment of risk weights to specialised lending exposures under the Supervisory Slotting Criteria Approach. Consultation on Regulatory technical standards on specialised lending exposures. The European Banking Authority (EBA) is seeking views on proposed changes to its regulatory technical standards (RTS) governing how risk weights are allocated to specialised lending under the Supervisory Slotting Criteria Approach (SSCA). The update reflects revisions introduced by the Capital Requirements Regulation (EU) 2024/1623 (EU CRR3) and is intended to improve the framework’s risk sensitivity, clarity and usability. Collectively, the RTS pursue a harmonised and sound prudential treatment of specialised lending exposures under the SSCA...

In this issue Sustainable finance and ESG round up LIBOR and benchmarks Lending Security Sustainable finance Derivatives Regulation for derivatives lawyers Regulation for banking lawyers Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Useful information Sustainable finance and ESG round up Sustainable finance and ESG monthly round-up—11 August 2025. This Finance Group update features: (1) an International Sustainability Standards Board consultation on proposed changes to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Standards and guidance for IFRS S2, (2) the IFRS Foundation’s near-final guidance on reporting uncertainties within financial statements, and (3) new United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative guidance for banks on climate adaptation and resilience. For more, see News Analysis: Sustainable finance and ESG monthly round-up—11 August 2025. LIBOR and benchmarks On 23 July 2025, the UK Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment, overturning the fraud convictions of traders Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo. Ellen Gallagher, partner at Vardags Ltd,...

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has, for years, warned about a widening ‘natural catastrophe insurance protection gap’ across the EU. This gap captures the mismatch between overall losses caused by natural disasters and the portion of those losses that are insured. According to EIOPA and the European Central Bank (ECB), from 1981 to 2023 natural catastrophes cost EU member states €900bn, with one fifth of that bill arising in just the most recent three years. Over the same period, only around a quarter of losses were insured, and that proportion is falling. We have previously outlined EIOPA’s worries about the consequences of this catastrophe gap (see here). In this article, we examine the actions that EIOPA and the ECB now formally propose to narrow the protection gap, as set out in a paper issued on 18 December 2024 (the 2024 Paper). In brief, the proposals (explained further below) rest on two pillars: a public–private, EU‑wide reinsurance facility (designed to complement existing national insurance schemes in some member...

UK developments HMT extends Transition Plan Taskforce mandate The Transition Plan Taskforce (TPT) has confirmed that HM Treasury (HMT) has now prolonged its mandate until at least 31 July 2024, with a potential further three month extension to the very end of October 2024, to support the Transition Finance Market Review (TFMR), which was launched on 22 January 2024. See: LNB News 25/01/2024 44. Source: The TPT’s mandate has been extended. New one minute guide on the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and Labelling Regime The LexisNexis Financial Services practical guidance team, working with knowledge counsel, Chris Ormond, and partner, Dr Andrew Henderson of Goodwin LLP, has released a new one minute guide that presents a concise summary of the key requirements of the UK Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and labelling regime. See: The FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and Labelling Regime—one minute guide EU developments EBA surveys credit institutions on classification methodologies for ESG risks The European Banking Authority (EBA) is currently...

Background and introduction to SEPA After the euro was introduced in 11 EU countries in 1999, it became evident that domestic and cross-border retail payment services did not deliver comparable service levels. In September 1999, the European Central Bank (ECB) issued a report on enhancing cross-border retail payment services (the ECB 1999 Report). The report recognised that cross-border credit transfers within the euro area lagged significantly behind domestic credit transfers, even though a single currency environment called for a Single European Payment Area (SEPA). To initiate the debate and send a clear signal to the banking and payment systems industry, the Eurosystem (consisting of the ECB and the national central banks of countries that had adopted the euro) set out seven objectives for the industry to meet: Improved systems/services to be in place by 1 January 2002 Place priority on cross-border credit transfers Substantially lower the price of cross-border credit transfers Ensure settlement times are comparable for domestic and cross-border payments As...

Background to the Single Supervisory Mechanism In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, heightened concern spread across the EU about threats to the stability of the single currency and the integrated market for banking services. To tackle these issues, strengthen financial stability and aid economic recovery, the EU has been building a European Banking Union, anchored in a single regulatory rulebook for financial services, to advance the integration of banking supervision across the EU. At its core sits the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), created by Council Regulation (EU) 1024/2013 and complemented by the SSM Framework Regulation, Regulation (EU) 468/2014. The SSM seeks to ensure that oversight of credit institutions is coherent and effective, and consistent with the functioning of the internal market for financial services and the free movement of capital. Application and scope The SSM Regulation covers credit institutions established in a eurozone Member State. In addition, a Member State not in the eurozone may request to be brought under SSM supervision by establishing close...

Loan market and developments Kindly give a short synopsis of the current position of the loan markets in your jurisdiction and any material recent shifts. Ireland’s retail banking landscape now centres on three principal institutions—AIB, Bank of Ireland and Permanent TSB—following the departures of KBC and Ulster Bank in 2022. Alongside them, various non-bank lenders are active in the Irish arena. Some hold Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) authorisation as retail credit firms, as they provide credit to individuals; others are authorised by the CBI as credit servicing firms. For the Irish credit servicing regime, in-scope credit agreements include those with individuals (with limited exceptions) and, where a loan was originated by a regulated financial services provider (RFSP) and subsequently sold, lending to a small or medium-sized enterprise. In 2024, domestic banks increased overall lending to Irish corporates—most notably within real estate and primary industries—while SME borrowing rates eased, after a spell of rises driven by European Central Bank (ECB) rate hikes. Please furnish a brief outline of forthcoming...