CNB keeps systemic risk buffer rates unchanged

The CNB has reviewed the systemic importance of domestic banks and has left the current systemic risk buffer (SRB) rates for the five systemically most important banks Česká spořitelna, ČSOB Komerční banka, UniCredit Bank and Raiffeisenbank – unchanged from 1 January 2021 onwards.

The CNB first set a non-zero SRB rate in 2014, for the four systemically most important banks. In accordance with the Act on Banks, the CNB must review the reasons for setting the SRB rate at least once every two years. To review systemic importance, the CNB uses a methodology based on a number of indicators describing four key parameters of the bank: size, complexity, substitutability and interconnectedness.

The first review was conducted in 2016 using end-2015 data. On the basis of the review, the CNB increased the number of banks subject to the SRB to five and raised the buffer for two of them. The second review, made in 2018, left the SRB rates unchanged, just like the current review, which assessed the end-2019 indicators.

The rate will thus remain at 3% for Česká spořitelna, ČSOB and Komerční banka, 2% for UniCredit Bank and 1% for Raiffeisenbank after 1 January 2021. The banks are required to maintain the SRB on both an individual and consolidated basis. The rates are expressed as a percentage of the bank’s overall risk exposure and the SRB must consist of the bank’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital.

After the transposition of CRD V (the Capital Requirements Directive) into the national legislation, the CNB will start to use the buffer for other systemically important institutions (O-SIIs) instead of the SRB to mitigate risks connected with the systemic importance of banks.

The Capital Requirements Directive is one of the key EU rules governing credit institutions, i.e. banks and credit unions in the Czech Republic. CRD deals mainly with access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms.

Markéta Fišerová
Director of the Communications Division and CNB Spokesperson