Capital Requirements Directive (CRD IV)

As the CRD IV is formed by two legal acts at level 1, a Directive ("CRD") and a Regulation ("CRR"), these are now jointly referred to as the "CRD". The CRD IV is the implementation of Basel III, the Single rulebook, the transition towards a Regulation for the main body of the CRD text, as well as significant changes in many other areas. As was already the case, the CRD IV will be applied to credit institutions and most investment firms. Additionally the CRD IV scope expands upwards to become more stringent on financial holding companies. As soon as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) enters into force the CRD IV will become the main basis for pan-European supervision of banks (credit institutions).

Entry into force

The CRD IV will be applicable as of January 1th 2014, while in some areas later application dates are relevant. In addition the CRD IV includes a substantial set of "transitional provisions" which are aimed a grandfathering current situations of supervised entities to allow a gradual phasing in of new requirements. The entry into force is a legal technical matter: for the Directive this date is 20 days after publication, for the Regulation this is 1 day after publication. These dates are not directly relevant for supervised entities.

Main content

Like the previous versions of the CRD, the main body of the CRD IV is closely linked to the publications of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS). The CRD IV builds upon the already implemented Basel II accord and subsequent changes and now also includes the European transposition of the Basel III accord. While the CRD IV is a one-to-one implementation of Basel III on many details, valid concerns have been raised on some “European specificities”, notably the definition of capital and capital deductions. The CRD continues to cover topics beyond BCBS publications in areas of supervisory cooperation, supervisory powers, sanctions, market access of credit institutions, as well as large exposures.

Detailed standards and guidance

Following further ambitions on harmonization of the European supervisory framework, the CRD now includes more than 150 mandates for the European Supervisory Authorities (ESA’s) to work on more detailed specifications of the CRD provisions. Many of these mandates take the form of tasking the European Banking Authority (EBA) with submitting draft binding technical standards (BTS) for adoption to the European Commission. These BTSs (either ITS or RTS) will have the meaning of European level 2 Regulations after adoption by the Commission and subsequent formal procedures. In addition the EBA is empowered to investigate and research the application of the CRD in many specific areas. All in all, under the CRD umbrella somewhere in the direction of 10.000 pages of legislation, guidance and specifications are expected to become applicable.

Publication in the Official Journal

• Official Journal of the European Union L 176

Further information

We will publish additional background information on the CRD IV on Open Book Supervision (www.toezicht.dnb.nl) in due time. For questions we kindly ask you to submit questions to the forms included on Open Book or send an email to Jesse Kayser via crd@dnb.nl