On November 8, 2022, the European Council reached a decision on its general approach to Basel III regulatory reforms, namely proposals on amendments to the capital requirements directive (CRD) and the capital requirements regulation (CRR). The Council hopes that by implementing these reforms, it will “boost the resilience of banks operating in the Union and strengthen their supervision and risk management”.

The “output floor” which uses internal models to calculate minimum capital requirements, will apply to both individual and group banking levels, however, member states will have discretion, within its own country, to apply the output floor at the highest level of consolidation. In addition to enhanced technical improvements to credit and market risk and several other improvements, the Council’s position on the implementation of Basel III reforms will enhance proportionality rules for small banks, specifically for disclosure requirements as they pertain to small and non-complex financial institutions. The European Commission previously presented its proposal on the review of the CRD and CRR regulations on October 27, 2021-- next steps include negotiations with the European Parliament to finalize a version of the texts and finalizing the implementation of Basel III international agreements into EU law.

More information on the European Council’s position on the proposals amending the CRD and CRR , is available here.