On Thursday 25 May, the European Banking Authority (EBA) announced that it was to publish the results of its annual transparency exercise in early December 2017, at the same time as its Risk Assessment Report (RAR) 2017.
This fourth transparency exercise will be launched in September 2017, when the EBA will send out questionnaires to verify data within the sample of banks. In all, nearly 600,000 pieces of information, supplying detailed data on the bank balance sheets and portfolios of more than 130 banks, will be published.
As for 2016, the sample of banks will be the same as that used for the RAR and the transparency exercise will focus solely on the data reported to the control bodies. The European authority believes that this will considerably reduce the burden on banks, as they will not be required to notify any additional information.
This banking sector health check will focus in particular on the level of risk exposure, profits and losses, credit risk, securitisation, non-performing exposures and forborne exposures, for December 2016 and June 2017. For the first time, the leverage ratios will also be published for each bank.
With this exercise, the EBA aims to “foster market discipline” and “improve the understanding of the EU banking system”, it explains in a press release. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)