Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 509 Liquidity requirements

1. EBA shall monitor and evaluate the reports made in accordance with Article 415(1), across currencies and across different business models. EBA shall, after consulting the ESRB, non-financial end-users, the banking industry, competent authorities and the ESCB central banks annually and for the first time by 31 December 2013 report to the Commission on whether a specification of the general liquidity coverage requirement in Part Six based on the items to be reported in accordance with Part Six, Title II and Annex III, considered either individually or cumulatively, is likely to have a material detrimental impact on the business and risk profile of institutions established in the Union or on the stability and orderly functioning of financial markets or on the economy and the stability of the supply of bank lending, with a particular focus on lending to SMEs and on trade financing, including lending under official export credit insurance schemes.

The report referred to in the first subparagraph shall take due account of markets and international regulatory developments as well as of the interactions of the liquidity coverage requirement with other prudential requirements under this Regulation such as the risk based capital ratios as set out in Article 92 and the leverage ratio.

The European Parliament and the Council shall be given the opportunity to state their views on the report referred to in the first subparagraph.

2. EBA shall in the report referred to in paragraph 1 assess the following in particular:

(a) the provision of mechanisms restricting the value of liquidity inflows, in particular with a view to determining an appropriate inflow cap and the conditions for its application, taking into account different business models including pass through financing, factoring, leasing, covered bonds, mortgages, issuance of covered bonds, and the extent to which that cap should be amended or removed to cater for the specificities of specialised financing;

(b) the calibration of inflows and outflows referred to in Part Six, Title II, in particular under Article 422(7) and Article 425(2);

(c) the provision of mechanisms restricting the coverage of liquidity requirements by certain categories of liquid assets, in particular assessing the appropriate minimum percentage for liquid assets referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 416(1) to the total of liquid assets, testing a threshold of 60 % and taking into account international regulatory developments. Assets owed and due or callable within 30 calendar days should not count towards the limit unless the assets have been obtained against collateral that also qualifies under points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 416(1);

(d) the provision of specific lower outflow and/or higher inflow rates for intragroup flows, specifying under which conditions such specific in- or outflow rates would be justified from a prudential point of view and setting out the high level outline of a methodology using objective criteria and parameters in order to determine specific levels of inflows and outflows between the institution and the counterparty when they are not established in the same Member State;

(e) the calibration of the draw-down rates applicable to the undrawn committed credit and liquidity facilities that fall under Article 424(3) and (5). In particular, EBA shall test a draw-down rate of 100 %;

(f) the definition of retail deposit in point (2) of Article 411, in particular the appropriateness of introducing a threshold on deposits of natural persons;

(g) the need to introduce a new retail deposit category with a lower outflow in the light of the specific characteristics of such deposits that could justify a lower outflow rate and taking into account international developments;

(h) derogations from requirements on the composition of the liquid assets institutions will be required to hold, where in a given currency the institutions' collective justified needs for liquid assets are exceeding the availability of those liquid assets and conditions to which such derogations should be subject;

(i) the definition of Shari'ah-compliant financial products as an alternative to assets that would qualify as liquid assets for the purposes of Article 416, for the use of Shari'ah-compliant banks;

(j) the definition of circumstances of stress, including principles for the use of the stock of liquid assets and the necessary supervisory reactions under which institutions would be able to use their liquid assets to meet liquidity outflows and how to address non-compliance;

(k) the definition of established operational relationship for non-financial customer as referred to in Article 422(3)(c);

(l) the calibration of the outflow rate applicable to correspondent banking and prime brokerage services as referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 422(4);

(m) mechanisms for the grandfathering of government guaranteed bonds issued to credit institutions as part of Government support measures with Union State aid approval, such as bonds issued by the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) in Ireland and by the Spanish Asset Management Company in Spain, designed to remove problem assets from the balance sheets of credit institutions, as assets of extremely high liquidity and credit quality until at least December 2023.

3. EBA shall, after consulting ESMA and the ECB, by 31 December 2013, report to the Commission on appropriate uniform definitions of high and of extremely high liquidity and credit quality of transferable assets for the purposes of Article 416 and appropriate haircuts for assets that would qualify as liquid assets for the purposes of Article 416, with the exception of assets referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of Article 416(1).

The European Parliament and the Council shall be given the opportunity to state their views on that report.

The report referred to in the first subparagraph shall also consider:

(a) other categories of assets, in particular residential mortgage-backed securities of high liquidity and credit quality;

(b) other categories of central bank eligible securities or loans, for example local government bonds and commercial paper; and

(c) other non-central bank eligible but tradable assets, for example equities listed on a recognised exchange, gold, major index linked equity instruments, guaranteed bonds, covered bonds, corporate bonds and funds based on those assets.

4. The report referred to in paragraph 3 shall consider whether, and if, to what extent standby credit facilities referred to in point (e) of Article 416(1) should be included as liquid assets in light of international development and taking into account European specificities, including the way monetary policy is performed in the Union.

EBA shall in particular test the adequacy of the following criteria and the appropriate levels for such definitions:

(a) minimum trade volume of the assets;

(b) minimum outstanding volume of the assets;

(c) transparent pricing and post-trade information;

(d) credit quality steps referred to in Part Three, Title II, Chapter 2;

(e) proven record of price stability;

(f) average volume traded and average trade size;

(g) maximum bid/ask spread;

(h) remaining time to maturity;

(i) minimum turnover ratio.

5. By 31 January 2014, EBA shall furthermore report on the following:

(a) uniform definitions of high and extremely high liquidity and credit quality;

(b) the possible unintended consequences of the definition of liquid assets on the conduct of monetary policy operation and the extent to which:

(i)

a list of liquid assets that is disconnected from the list of central bank eligible assets may incentivise institutions to submit eligible assets which are not included in the definition of liquid assets in refinancing operations;

(ii)

regulation of liquidity may disincentivise institutions to lend or borrow on the unsecured money market and whether this may lead to question the targeting of EONIA in monetary policy implementation;

(iii)

the introduction of the liquidity coverage requirement may make it more difficult for central banks to ensure price stability by using the existing monetary policy framework and instruments;

(c) the operational requirements for the holdings of liquid assets, as referred in points (b) to (f) of Article. 417, in line with international regulatory developments.