EBA Publishes Report on Monitoring Implementation of LCR in EU

LCR has been applicable in EU since October 01, 2015 and its full implementation at a minimum of 100% became effective in January 2018. This put an end to any national provisions in the area of liquidity requirements laid down in the capital requirements regulation (CRR). In the report, EBA has highlighted areas in which further guidance is deemed useful for banks and supervisors to foster a common understanding and harmonization of the application of the liquidity standard, while reducing some issues on the level playing field. To that end, the report:

• Outlines the observations of EBA on some aspects of LCR implementation
• Outlines the views of EBA on the assessment of some observed practices
• Identifies best practices and/or areas for which further guidance for banks and supervisors might be necessary, while providing some guidance for certain areas monitored to date
• Underlines areas for which further monitoring is ongoing

At present, EBA is working on the implementation related to outflows with interdependent inflows (Article 26 of the LCR Delegated Regulation), the LCR calculated by significant currency, and HQLA diversification. EBA intends to use this monitoring exercise as a tool to assess whether changes are needed to the LCR COREP reports. For instance, EBA has built on this first monitoring exercise to propose some changes to the implementing technical standards on LCR—that is, the removal of some memo items that are deemed to have filled their role and are no longer providing useful information. These changes were consulted on in September/October 2018.

Furthermore, based on the reporting data and additional qualitative information collected, it was observed that some transactions reported as other operational deposits should have been reported under operational deposits for clearing, custody, or cash management or other comparable services. Other transactions should not have been a priori reported as operational deposits at all. Thus, it was concluded that the LCR COREP reporting templates do not currently identify the excess operational deposit amount as a separate item. It is proposed that dedicated rows be introduced in the upcoming updated LCR supervisory reporting templates for proper monitoring to take place. While some guidance has been already proposed for certain areas monitored in this report, EBA will further assess how the guidance provided in the report will be used by banks and supervisors and consider taking further steps, if needed (including some full-fledged products such as guidelines, and recommendations). EBA intends to regularly monitor the implementation of LCR for EU banks and update this report on an ongoing basis to set out its observations and provide further guidance, where necessary. 

Related Links

• Press Release
• Report (PDF)
• Liquidity Risk Guidelines and Standards

Keywords: Europe, EU, Banking, Liquidity Risk, LCR, Liquidity Monitoring, CRR, Basel III, Reporting, EBA