EU Technical Standards On Own Funds Requirements Amended

On June 17, 2015, a regulation which amends the regulatory technical standards for own funds requirements was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The amending regulation aims to ensure a harmonized approach across the EU to the deduction from own funds items of indirect and synthetic holdings in firms' own funds instruments and indirect and synthetic holdings in financial sector entities. The amending regulation adds provisions to the original RTS which: (i) explain what intermediate entities mean for the purpose of deducting holdings in financial sector entities held indirectly through intermediate entities; (ii) expand upon the different investments which should be considered as synthetic holdings and the amount to be deducted from Common Equity Tier 1 items in each case; (iii) set out the calculation for firms to determine the percentage held indirectly in a financial sector entity; (iv) include criteria required for indices to be qualify