Brussels, 12/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 12 December, the European Commission adopted a decision finding that a number of countries and foreign territories apply equivalent rules to the EU to banks, investment companies and exchanges.
The Commission's list applies from 1 January 2015 onwards as follows: - for exposure to banks: - Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Guernesey, Hong Kong, India, the Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Mexico, Monaco, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Singapore, South Africa and the United States; - for exposure to investment firms: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and the United States; - for exposure to exchanges: Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and the United States.
The non-exhaustive list will be regularly updated in 2016 and 2017.
“With this Decision, we are clarifying the capital provisions that EU banks need to hold against over 90% of their non-EU lending. This means EU credit institutions won't need to apply disproportionate capital requirements against these exposures,” explained the EU Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill in a press release. The decision means that for those third countries which are recognised as equivalent, EU banks can apply preferential risk weighting to relevant exposures to entities located in those countries. The drawing up of a common list at EU level means that bank exposure in non-EU countries can be treated in a similar way to exposure in the EU. (MB)