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1. BANK REGULATION
1.1 PRUDENTIAL REGULATION
a) General
(i) EU
Status: Final
The EBA published its final report on Guidelines amending Guidelines EBA/GL/2022/04 on the equivalence of confidentiality and professional secrecy regimes in third countries, reinforcing the EU's commitment to safeguarding confidential information and enabling effective cross‑border supervisory cooperation. The update expands the scope of the 2022 Guidelines to reflect new requirements under MiCAR and incorporate the latest EBA equivalence assessments. The updated framework confirms that the confidentiality and professional secrecy regimes of several authorities, including those in Australia, China, Montenegro, Peru, Serbia, and the UK, are now considered equivalent to EU standards. In addition, the revised Guidelines streamline definitions, update legal references, and clarify how competent authorities should apply the framework when sharing information or engaging in supervisory cooperation.
Date of publication: 22/12/2025
EBA: Public summary on updated report on equivalence monitoring
Status: Final
The EBA updated its confidential report on equivalence monitoring activities and submitted it to the ESAs. To enhance transparency, the EBA also published a public summary outlining recent regulatory and supervisory developments in 26 non-EU jurisdictions deemed equivalent under the CRR, accompanied by a press release. The report provides factual information on regulatory and supervisory changes, identifies areas that may require continued monitoring, and ensures that the criteria for equivalence decisions continue to be met. The public summary offers insight into the EBA's monitoring approach while respecting the confidentiality of the detailed report. The summary also provides information on the methodology, scope, parameters, and inherent limitations of the equivalence assessments. It states that the nature and extent of any subsequent follow-up actions will be contingent upon the number and significance of the material findings identified for each jurisdiction.
Date of publication: 18/12/2025
Council of the EU: Adoption of conclusions on simplifying EU financial services regulation
Status: Final
The Council of the EU adopted conclusions on simplifying the EU's financial services regulation as part of its broader competitiveness agenda. The Council emphasises that simplification should reduce unnecessary complexity and administrative burdens, particularly for SMEs, without undermining financial stability or core regulatory pillars such as capital requirements, consumer protection, and anti-money laundering frameworks. Key principles include eliminating duplicative or outdated provisions, improving coherence across legislation, streamlining reporting requirements, and ensuring robust stakeholder consultation and impact assessments. The Council calls on the EC to swiftly propose ambitious simplification packages, review existing legislation and explore technological tools such as AI to enhance efficiency. It also urges better coordination among EU institutions and supervisory authorities, including the European Supervisory Authorities and the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Authority, and calls on them to adopt a simpler and more targeted approach to developing RTS, ITS, Guidelines, etc. The EC is invited to report back on progress with simplification initiatives and prepare a report (scheduled for 2026) assessing the overall state of the banking system in the Single Market and evaluating its competitiveness.
Date of publication: 12/12/2025
(ii) International
BCBS: Revised handbook for jurisdictional assessments on the regulatory consistency assessment programme
Status: Final
The BCBS published its revised handbook for jurisdictional assessments. It describes the methodology used by the Basel Committee to assess the completeness and consistency of domestic prudential regulations with the Basel framework. These assessments are conducted as part of the Committee's Regulatory Consistency Assessment Programme (RCAP). The handbook is designed to be a flexible compendium, with its guidance and principles being revised or expanded as the RCAP evolves. This revised version of the handbook includes specific guidance for the assessment of the Basel III revisions to risk-weighted assets and the leverage ratio framework.
Date of publication: 03/12/2025
b) Solvency/Own funds issues
(i) EU
ECB: Launch of fast-track assessments for capital and securitisation
Status: Final
The ECB launched its fast-track assessments for banks' capital and securitisation operations. As of January 2026, it enables banks to receive a faster response from the ECB when they seek to reduce their capital by repurchasing shares or other capital instruments, or reduce their capital requirements after a significant risk transfer. The ECB advises that the faster processes will apply to standardised operations and clarifies that, despite the faster process, all global standards and European regulations will still apply in full. The normal procedure, which entails a more detailed assessment of the operation and the risks involved, will still apply to operations ineligible for fast-track processing. By applying these two new fast-track processes, the ECB aims to cut approval times to two weeks, down from three months currently. In the broader context of streamlining supervision and making it more efficient and effective, these fast-track processes are expected to save time in routine operations and allow supervisors to focus on more complex assessments.
Date of publication: 19/12/2025
EBA: Final report on draft RTS on the treatment of structural FX positions under Article 104c CRR
Status: Final
The EBA published its final report on draft RTS on the treatment of structural foreign exchange (FX) positions under the CRR. The draft RTS, developed under Article 104c CRR (inserted by the CRR III), build on the EBA's 2020 Guidelines and were consulted on in October 2024. Most provisions from the existing EBA 2020 Guidelines have been retained with a few notable changes, including: (i) allowing institutions to consider only credit risk own funds requirements when determining the maximum open position that neutralises sensitivity to capital ratios where credit risk is the main driver of ratio variability; (ii) providing further guidance on how institutions should remove FX risk positions from own funds requirements; and (iii) introducing dedicated provisions for currencies that are illiquid in the market, including those impacted by EU restrictive measures.
The final draft RTS will be submitted to the EC for endorsement, following which they will enter into force on the 20th day following publication in the OJ.
Date of publication: 12/12/2025
Status: Final
The EBA published its final report on draft RTS amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/206 (which supplements the CRR). The EBA is mandated by Article 124(11) CRR to draft RTS which specify: (i) the types of factors to be considered by national authorities in assessing the appropriateness of the risk weights for exposures secured by immovable property; and (ii) the conditions to be considered for the assessment of the appropriateness of minimum loss given default values for exposures secured by immovable property. The only amendment identified for the existing RTS is an update of relevant legal references to align with the revised CRR (CRR3) framework. Following the April consultation, no changes were made to the draft RTS, noting no responses were received. The RTS will now be submitted to the European Commission for endorsement before being published in the OJ.
Date of publication: 10/12/2025
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Regulatory monitoring: EU Version
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