EBA Concludes Peer Review on Deposit Guarantee Scheme Stress Tests

The DGSD requires member states to ensure that Deposit Guarantee Schemes perform stress tests of their systems. In 2016, EBA issued guidelines on stress tests of Deposit Guarantee Schemes that set out the scope, principle-based requirements, and a list of four "priority tests" that Deposit Guarantee Schemes are required to perform. The DGSD, in turn, requires EBA to use these reports to conduct a peer review of all Deposit Guarantee Schemes across EU, at least every five years. In this exercise, the priority tests covered operational and funding capabilities of Deposit Guarantee Schemes, credit institutions’ single customer view (SCV) files containing depositor information to prepare for a Deposit Guarantee Scheme payout, and cross-border cooperation between Deposit Guarantee Schemes in case of cross-border branches. EBA concluded that such tests have become an established tool to prepare for Deposit Guarantee Scheme interventions. 

EBA is of the view that, using the grading system outlined in the guidelines on stress tests of Deposit Guarantee Schemes, the overall resilience of Deposit Guarantee Schemes across the EU is "fair," which is the second best result, after "optimal." This means that the identified shortcomings are isolated and/or can easily be addressed by the Deposit Guarantee Schemes at the point of failure and are unlikely to affect the ability of Deposit Guarantee Schemes to perform their tasks in line with the DGSD. The report also identified good practices that were deployed by a number of Deposit Guarantee Schemes and that can be considered by the other Deposit Guarantee Schemes. EBA also highlighted certain shortcomings and provided early indications on how to improve and enhance the framework. In particular, EBA found that the divergence in the type of exercises performed and in the way outcomes were reported made it difficult for EBA to compare the tests between Deposit Guarantee Schemes, thus hampering the desired consistency. EBA, therefore, provided early indications on how to enhance the comparability for future peer reviews. These early indications will also serve as input for any potential future revision of the EBA guidelines on stress tests of Deposit Guarantee Schemes.

While the peer review performed by EBA is a regular exercise required by the DGSD, it also includes provisions stemming from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report outlines lessons learned from a real-life payout case in one EU member state that coincided with the pandemic. In relation to the COVID‐19 pandemic, the report includes an early indication of how to improve the framework by exploring how to incentivize Deposit Guarantee Schemes to perform special tests that allow them to assess scenarios resulting in severe business continuity problems, such as a pandemic, power outages, or significant operational disruptions. 

Related Links

• Press Release
• Peer Review (PDF)

Keywords: Europe, EU, Banking, DGS, DGSD, Deposit Guarantee Schemes, Peer Review, Resolution Framework, COVID-19, EBA