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The Capital Requirements (Capital Buffers and Macro-prudential Measures) Regulations 2014

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Changes over time for: CHAPTER 2

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The Capital Requirements (Capital Buffers and Macro-prudential Measures) Regulations 2014, CHAPTER 2 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 09 March 2025. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations. Help about Changes to Legislation

CHAPTER 2U.K.Exposures located in the United Kingdom

The buffer guideU.K.

9.—(1) The FPC must calculate for every quarter a buffer guide as a reference to guide its exercise of judgement in assessing and setting the buffer rate in accordance with regulation 10.

(2) The buffer guide must—

(a)reflect, in a meaningful way, the credit cycle and the risks due to excess credit growth in the United Kingdom; and

(b)duly take into account the specificities of the economy of the United Kingdom.

(3) The buffer guide must be based on the deviation of the ratio of credit to gross domestic product from its long term trend, taking into account—

(a)an indicator of the growth of levels of credit within the United Kingdom and, in particular, an indicator reflecting the changes in the ratio of credit granted in the United Kingdom to gross domestic product; F1...

F1(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Countercyclical buffer rateU.K.

10.—(1) The FPC must assess and set a buffer rate for the United Kingdom.

(2) The purpose of the buffer rate is to enable institutions with exposures located in the United Kingdom to calculate their institution-specific countercyclical capital buffers.

(3) The buffer rate must be assessed and set on a quarterly basis, taking into account—

(a)the buffer guide calculated in accordance with regulation 9(1);

F2(b). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F2(c). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(d)any other variables that the FPC considers relevant for addressing cyclical systemic risk.

(4) The buffer rate must be expressed as a percentage of the total risk exposure of institutions with exposures located in the United Kingdom.

(5) Total risk exposure must be calculated in accordance with Article 92(3) of the capital requirements regulation.

(6) The buffer rate must be—

(a)set between 0% and 2.5%, except where the matters referred to in paragraph (3) justify a higher rate; and

(b)an integer multiple of 0.25%.

Date from which changes to the buffer rate applyU.K.

11.—(1) Where the FPC—

(a)sets the buffer rate above zero for the first time; or

(b)increases the buffer rate;

it must decide the date from which UK institutions must apply the buffer rate for the purposes of calculating their institution-specific countercyclical capital buffers.

(2) The date referred to in paragraph (1) must be 12 months after the date when the buffer rate is published in accordance with regulation 12(1), unless an earlier date is justified on the basis of exceptional circumstances.

(3) Where the FPC reduces the buffer rate, it must decide on an indicative period during which no increase in that rate is expected.

(4) The indicative period referred to in paragraph (3) is not be binding on the FPC.

Announcement of changes to the buffer rateU.K.

12.—(1) The Bank must publish the following information on its website—

(a)the buffer rate assessed and set by the FPC in accordance with regulation 10(1);

(b)the relevant ratio of credit to gross domestic product and its deviation from the long-term trend;

(c)the buffer guide calculated by the FPC in accordance with regulation 9;

(d)the reasons for the FPC's decision on the level of the buffer rate.

(2) Where the FPC decides to increase the buffer rate, the Bank must publish on its website—

(a)the date from which UK institutions must apply the new buffer rate for the purposes of calculating their institution-specific countercyclical capital buffer; and

(b)any exceptional circumstances which justify any decision by the FPC to require institutions to apply the new buffer rate less than a year after it is published.

(3) Where the FPC decides to decrease the buffer rate, the Bank must publish on its website the indicative period referred to in regulation 11(3) and the FPC's reasons for choosing that period.

F3(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

F3(5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[F4Buffer rate rulesU.K.

12A.(1) Nothing in paragraph 17(9)(b) of Schedule 6A to the Bank of England Act 1998 F5... prohibits the making of a rule by the PRA F5... that references a countercyclical capital buffer rate set by the FPC under this Part.]

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