SRB Issues Guidance on Permission Regime for MREL-Eligible Liabilities

The recent SRB guidance aims to explain and inform institutions under the direct SRB remit about two regulatory changes that require SRB to adapt its current permission regime procedure for calling, redeeming, repaying or repurchasing eligible liabilities instruments ahead of their maturity. The first regulatory change relates to the application of SRMR2 on December 28, 2020, with new MREL-eligibility criteria applying to liabilities that qualify for MREL. The regulation expands the scope of liabilities subject to the permission regime to all MREL eligible liabilities (including senior unsecured liabilities and internal MREL eligible liabilities) and to liabilities that are eligible for internal MREL. The guidance explains that, until the new MREL decisions adopted by SRB on the basis of the SRMR2 are communicated to institutions by the national resolution authorities, the existing MREL decisions taken on the basis of SRMR1/BRRD1 remain valid. After the communication of the SRMR2 MREL decisions by national resolution authorities, the transitional period set out in Article 12k of the SRMR2 will start and institutions will not need to apply for for early redemptions of MREL-eligible liabilities taking place until December 31, 2021. However, for redemptions of MREL-eligible liabilities to be performed after December 31, 2021, institutions will need to submit applications to the SRB four months in advance (for example, to perform a redemption as of January 01, 2022, an institution will need to submit an application to SRB at the latest by August 31, 2021).

The second regulatory change is the forthcoming Level 2 legislation on the permission regime. EBA is mandated under Article 78a(3) of the revised Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR2) to draft regulatory technical standards specifying the process for prior permission, including information requirements for permission applications and the timeframe for resolution authorities to assess applications. The EBA standards on the procedure applicable to early redemptions will have an impact on the current policy and procedure of SRB. SRB will continue to assess all new applications based on its current policy and procedure until the Delegated Regulation endorsing the EBA regulatory technical standards applies. SRB will use the statutory transitional period set out in SRMR2 to integrate the new elements of the Delegated Regulation into its policy and procedure, so that the updated permission regime can be operational as of January 01, 2022. SRB expects all applications for permission to include projections on total loss-absorbing capacity (TLAC) for the following three years.

Related Links

• Press Release
• Guidance (PDF)

Keywords: Europe, EU, Banking, MREL, Resolution Framework, SRMR2, Permission Regime, CRR2, Basel, TLAC, Regulatory Capital, EBA, SRB